'Bigger fines not enough to tackle fire violations'
Increasing penalties alone will not be enough to deal with the problem of property owners ignoring fire safety orders, a lawmaker said on Saturday.  Tony Tse made the comments after the government said this week that it intended to submit an amendment bill to the Legislative Council in July to raise the penalties for people who ignore such instructions. It follows the deaths of five people in a fire at New Lucky House in Jordan, a building subject to a series of fire safety notices.  Officials are proposing to raise the maximum penalty by four times to HK$100,000 for those who fail to follow a fire safety direction, and to HK$200,000 for those who ignore compliance orders. Tony Tse, who represents the architectural, surveying, planning and landscape sectors, said legislation alone was not the answer and that owners should be informed that they are responsible for carrying out maintenance and repair work.  “[For] those who have little knowledge or no knowledge about this area, we should all offer some sort of assistance. That could be coming from the government, or some professional institutions, as well as some volunteering persons who have knowledge about it," Tse said.  Election Committee lawmaker Andrew Lam said that while it's "inevitable" that stricter penalties for non-compliance would be introduced, the government should strengthen inter-departmental cooperation to tackle such issues.