Call to merge housing checking unit with Buildings Department after Tai Po fire

Some residents displaced by Hong Kong’s deadliest inferno in decades have called for merging the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU) with the Buildings Department, after a public inquiry revealed regulatory failures linked to communication problems between the two arms of similar functions. In recommendations submitted to the independent committee probing the Wang Fuk Court fire, which were released on Saturday, legal representatives for nine residents said authorities should merge.