Cost of high speed rail link swells to HK$80b in light of two-year delay

The delay in the construction of the cross-border express railway could see its cost rise from HK$67 billion to HK$80 billion, lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun quoted sources at MTR as saying.

The claim was made as MTR contractors were said to be facing cash-flow problems as a result of the delay - which has pushed back completion of the high-speed link from West Kowloon to Guangzhou by two years, to 2017.

"A lot of people know about the latest estimate," said Tien. "But [the government and MTR] are still in talks over who should pay for it, and that's why they do not want to announce it yet," added the former chairman of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, whose operations merged with the MTR in 2007.

Tien, who represents the New People's Party, said he believed the HK$80 billion figure was optimistic. "No one knows what will happen" in the course of the construction, he added.

As to whether the MTR, government or contractors should fund the extra costs, Tien said that should depend on the reasons behind individual claims.

The MTR's announcement of the delay in April had been unexpected. The company blamed a broken tunnelling machine at Yuen Long and difficult ground conditions at the West Kowloon terminus.

Last month, the MTR announced that its chief executive, Jay Walder, is to step down on August 15, a year earlier than scheduled, after an internal report criticised his "poor judgment" on overseeing the project.