The report of the Commission of Inquiry into Excess Lead Found in Drinking Water was released today.
Chief Executive CY Leung received the report on May 11 and the Government published it today in redacted form to avoid any prejudice to criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Chairing a press briefing today, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam said the Government accepts the reports' comments and will implement its recommendations.
The report revealed quite a number of problems, she said, adding that many of those problems were “systemic” and “collective”.
"It is not pinpointing an individual for blatantly not following the rules or the law, or abusing his or her responsibility. So this brings me back to my point about executive responsibility.
"Of course, as the Chief Secretary for Administration and on behalf of relevant government departments, I do admit that there are systemic problems, there is inadequate alertness, there is a flawed regulatory system in various government departments that has led to the lead in water in public housing estates incident. But I do not find any evidence that it is a single individual government official who has committed serious mistakes that has led to the incident."
She said the right approach is to look at the recommendations for improvement and to address systemic defects.
"I will remind all the government departments to look seriously at the various phenomena that has been revealed and to ensure that, in all respects, they will be able to cover their daily operations and to assure that we will be providing good services for the people of Hong Kong."
Click here for the report.
