Hong Kong lawmakers want answers on cost of high-speed railway to Guangzhou
The government must make clear who is responsible for cost overruns before seeking more cash for the work, say legislators
The government must make clear who is responsible for cost overruns on the high-speed railway to Guangzhou before seeking more cash for the work, lawmakers said on Friday.
The Hong Kong section of the link will be at least two years late and more than HK$6 billion over budget. In a report issued yesterday, a panel of experts said the Highways Department and the MTR Corporation were responsible, respectively, for poor supervision and execution of the scheme - the most expensive railway by distance in history.
The railway had been due for completion last year, and the announcement of the delay, blamed on poor weather and tougher than expected geological conditions, rocked the city. The cost is expected to rise from HK$65 billion to HK$71.5 billion, and the Legislative Council is expected to be asked to provide the extra funding.
But Michael Tien Puk-sun, chairman of Legco's transport panel said MTR should bear full responsibility for the costs as it failed to keep the government informed.
"The saga is obviously rooted in a corporate culture in which subordinates attempted to cover up failures from top management," said Tien, who headed rail operator KCR before its merger with MTR in 2007. "The government should not seek funding from Legco if it fails to make the MTR bear the cost overruns."
Under the terms for the project, the government agreed to be responsible for any cost overruns. But the MTR, which is majority owned by the government, was obliged to "exercise the skill and care reasonably expected of a professional and competent project manager" when modifying the cost and schedule for the work.
NeoDemocrat lawmaker Gary Fan Kwok-wai said the government should tell the public why the Highways Department was not aware of the delays.
Dr Hung Wing-tat, a Polytechnic University transport expert, said the government may have put too much faith in the MTR. "Probably due to the good track record of the MTR, the Highways Department officials accepted whatever the MTR report without due diligence," Hung said.
But he agreed with Tien that the corporation should bear the cost overruns because it failed to report the delays earlier.
