Civil aviation chiefs grilled over HK$42m changes to delayed air traffic management system

Legislators grilled the Civil Aviation Department yesterday on why it was necessary to spend an extra HK$42 million on additional features to the new - but still not operational - air traffic management system less than a year after the contract was awarded to the successful bidder.

A hearing of the Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee also heard that the already delayed system, known as AT3, would not be ready until the first half of 2016, instead of this year as the department had told the Audit Commission.

The committee held the hearing to discuss the auditor's report on the delay, released last November, as well as why the department had twice asked for additional requirements after the contract was awarded.

The first variation took place just 11 months after the contract was awarded in February 2011. The department wanted HK$42 million for three features, including an enhancement to the ultimate fallback system.

The department explained an enhancement was needed because of a new requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation announced in September 2011, but later admitted it was not mandatory.

A chief electronics engineer with the department, Richard Wu Chi-kwong, admitted that although the requirement had been discussed for two years, it was still not included in the tendering document when it was drafted in September 2010.