Contractors submit HK$7.5b in claims to MTR over railway construction
The MTR Corporation has received hundreds of contractor claims totalling HK$7.56 billion by June over "unexpected situations" in the construction of the cross-border express railway.
The amount was equivalent to 16.9 per cent of the awarded contract sum, according to a Legislative Council document. MTR had paid out HK$1 billion, the document stated.
The project had chalked up HK$28.6 billion in expenditure by the end of June, the bureau said. "The award of contracts is on schedule and within budget."
Legco had approved HK$66.9 billion for the high-speed link between West Kowloon and Shenzhen, expected to open in 2015.
The 436 claims, made outside the contract sum, included complicated obstructions found in the foundation and excavation works. The bureau said 339 of them had yet to be resolved.
The contractors were also asking for an extra HK$2.9 billion to build railway tunnels, and HK$2.67 billion for West Kowloon Terminus works.
