EMBATTLED Secretary for Recreation and Culture James So Yiu-cho admitted yesterday he could have made mistakes over the Hong Kong Stadium affair.
Responding for the first time to the Ombudsman's harsh criticism of his handling of the issue, Mr So conceded his branch might not have done as much as it could to forestall the noise problems plaguing the stadium.
'Maybe we haven't been comprehensive enough in our co-ordination work,' he said. 'We will have a full review and see how to improve it in future.' Yesterday's comments were a major U-turn from Mr So's initial response to the criticism, when he accused the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints of overlooking the fact that his branch was responsible for policy formulation, not implementation.
That was at odds with Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fong On-sang, who admitted the Government might have erred in its handling of the stadium problem.
But Mr So yesterday denied any rift with Mrs Chan and said since the stadium was a new type of project - jointly run by the Government and the Jockey Club - they had no experience in how to handle it.
The Ombudsman's report accused the branch of not paying enough attention to the potential for noise problems and failing to fulfil its role as project co-ordinator.
