Legislators warned high-speed rail project could face further delay

A Legislative Council panel was warned yesterday that any delay in extra funding for the high-speed, cross-border railway could push back completion of the project even further.

Frederick Ma Si-hang, who headed a committee set up by the MTR Corporation to investigate the two-year delay to the project, said: "If the construction costs rise further because of politics at Legco, it would not be in the interest of Hong Kong people. There would be an even bigger problem if the construction was forced to a halt [due to lack of funds]."

Ma, a non-executive director of the MTR, told RTHK he expected the MTR to include a "conservative" and "sufficient" contingency fund in its budget when it sought extra funds to meet higher construction costs. "It's not like if we have HK$5 billion or HK$6 billion, we will spend it all," Ma said. The cost is expected to rise to HK$71.5 billion, from HK$65 billion.

The former commerce minister was speaking a day after an expert report, commissioned by the MTR, said the new construction budget "includes an insufficiently small buffer for unforeseen future events", and that there was a 67 per cent chance of further cost overrun.

The report also said there was only a 69 per cent chance of the 2017 target being met.

Ma, however, said he was confident the target could be met and urged Legco members to approve any request for additional funding.