CE: Commission to include new MTR scandals in probe

The high-level probe into scandals of the Sha Tin to Central Link construction project will now examine new engineering problems as part of its overall investigation, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Thursday.

She told reporters of this decision one day after the government announced that more unauthorized changes and missing construction records had been found at Hung Hom Station of the rail line. The HK$97.1 billion rail link is the costliest rail project in Hong Kong’s history.

The government and Michael Hartmann, former Court of Final Appeal justice and chairman of the Commission of Inquiry — the government-appointed panel of judges and experts, will probe the construction scandals at the Sha Tin-Central Link. They now agree the latest problems and earlier ones were all under the same project contract, Lam said.

This decision will be discussed in the first Executive Council meeting after the Chinese New Year holiday, Lam said.

After earlier problems were revealed at Hung Hom Station, Lam said she felt very disappointed that new ones had been discovered. She also regretted the misconduct of Mass Transit Railway Corporation — the city’s sole rail operator and overseer of the Sha Tin-Central Link — in its work procedures.

Lam stressed that the government took the issue seriously. Being its majority shareholder, the government also takes a tough line with the MTR.

The Commission of Inquiry is expected to submit a mid-term report on the inquiry to the Executive Council by the end of February, Lam said. The chief executive added the commission will then decide when and how to carry out the investigation of new problems.

The issue will be comprehensively investigated and thoroughly improved, Lam stressed.

According to Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan, the new problems were found at the stabling sidings, the southern and northern approach tunnels of Hung Hom Station along the Sha Tin-Central Link.

Among materials provided by the 17-kilometer rail link’s main contractor Leighton Contractors (Asia), 40 percent of key documents relating to the three places were missing.

Last June, the contractor was found to have changed the supporting diaphragm walls without authorization; they had also cut short reinforcement bars and had not fit them properly into couplers.

Lawmakers blasted the MTRC over its poor management.

A legislator representing the engineering sector, Lo Wai-kwok, said he is “extremely dissatisfied” about the absence of 40 percent of documents. Lo urged the government to uncover any wrongdoings involved soon.

Michael Tien Puk-sun, lawmaker and former chairman of rail operator Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation before it merged with the MTR in 2007, said on Wednesday he supported the commission investigating the new scandals.

Tien also called for invoking the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance to allow LegCo to investigate the issue.

The MTRC issued a statement after the announcement, saying it will continue to provide full cooperation to assist the Commission of Inquiry in its investigation. To the point,