Hong Kong government calls on owners of collapsed Hung Hom building to pay the demolition bill

The government has demanded that the owner of an old building that collapsed, causing four deaths in 2010, settle the HK$3.08 million bill for the emergency demolition work, according to a High Court writ.

The secretary for justice filed the lawsuit against Halesweet, the company the government claimed had failed to pay the sum despite repeated demands.

The fatal accident happened at the 55-year-old building at 45J, Ma Tau Wai Road, Hung Hom on January 29, 2010.

On the day of the accident, Chak Oi-luen, acting on behalf of Halesweet, had hired repairman Chu Wai-wing to tear down an external wall and an illegal structure on the ground floor of the tenement block. During the work, part of the building collapsed. Four people, Lo Kin-wa, 46; Li Qunzhen, 37; student Tong Qingtao, 20; and optician Choy Tao-keung, 40, were killed in the accident.

The government hired a contractor to demolish the remaining part of the building, at a cost of more than HK$3 million, and sent the bill to Halesweet in March 2012.

"The cost of the said works in the sum of HK$3,089,548 is recoverable by the Building Authority from the [Halesweet Limited]," the writ said.