MTR incoming chief Frederick Ma and minister Anthony Cheung disagree over government responsibility for Guangzhou rail link fiasco
MTR's incoming chief and minister disagree on government responsibility
A war of words broke out between the MTR Corp's incoming chief and the transport minister yesterday over cost overruns affecting the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, as the two disagreed on whether the government should be held responsible for the fiasco.
Under a controversial agreement announced on Monday, the link will be completed in the third quarter of 2018, with the cost revised to HK$84.42 billion.
It means the government has to persuade a highly sceptical Legislative Council Finance Committee to approve HK$19.6 billion in extra funding by February, otherwise the 26km line from West Kowloon to the border will be stopped in its tracks. It has already cost about HK$50 billion and is 75 per cent finished.
Secretary for Transport and Housing Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung had said that the government reserved the right to take legal action against the MTRC over the delays and cost overruns after the mega project is completed.
But the corporation's chairman-designate, Frederick Ma Si-hang, told a Commercial Radio interviewer that the government had to share the blame.
"The MTR could have done better … but it wasn't all-powerful in deciding everything, because the government took part as well," the former government minister said. "The director of highways has been monitoring the project as the chairman of many of our committees, so I think to be fair, one cannot say that the MTR is fully responsible for all wrongdoings."
Speaking on the same programme, Cheung said Ma was wrong. "If I remember correctly, the MTR's project management team is almost 800-strong … while only about 40 officials and consultants of the Highways Department are involved. You could not expect them to be monitoring on a micro scale," Cheung said.
The minister was speaking a day after he apologised to the public over the project's delays and cost overruns.
Pan-democrat lawmakers, including those from the Civic and Labour parties, vowed to reject the funding request if the government insisted on allowing mainland immigration officers to be stationed at the West Kowloon terminus, a move they regard as contrary to the Basic Law.
But Cheung dismissed assertions that the plan would harm "one country, two systems", saying that it was only a matter of "mutual trust". The minister also dismissed criticism that the railway could be a "white elephant".
Cheung said that when the Hong Kong International Airport and West Rail were under construction, critics questioned whether the projects were worth the money, but they turned out to be important links.
"The high-speed rail link will be very busy ... It will save travelling time and it is important for boosting Hong Kong's connection [with the mainland]," he said. Cheung said if the project stopped in its tracks, the government might need to pay tens of billions in compensation to the companies and contractors involved.
Ma also urged lawmakers to approve the funding, as the project's problem "could get much more complicated" if work stopped.
