Audit Briefs

Management paid HK$32m despite inactivity at Eco Park

The Environmental Protection Department paid the management company of Eco Park HK$32 million between May 2007 and December last year, even though no recycler at the park started operations during that period. The Audit Commission asked the department why the contract did not contain a clause allowing it to reduce payments if activity levels at the park were low. The commission also found the company had not fulfilled its duties to market and promote the park and that the department had not required it to do so.

Inspectors fail to meet targets

The Vocational Training Council has been ordered to improve the performance of its inspectors of apprentices. They are required to make visits to the council's apprentices, and the council set a target for inspectors in three branches of 1,130 visits each. The Audit Commission found that the number of visits made by inspectors fell short of their targets. The council said it would review the targets.

More realistic schedules urged

The Transport Department has been urged to set more realistic schedules for project tendering. It allowed only 24 days for negotiations with a tenderer for a 2002 contract on the modification of an integrated database for vehicle licences and drivers' licences, but the talks took six months and the project was completed two years and 10 months later than planned.