THE Public Accounts Committee has unanimously criticised former secretary for lands and works Mr Nicky Chan Nai-keung for acting alone in conferring a ''runner-up'' title to the design which was later chosen for the Hongkong University for Science and Technology.
Committee members Mr Martin Barrow, Mr Simon Ip Sik-on and Mr Peter Wong Hong-yuen said the course of action ''by someone as experienced as Mr Chan is totally inexplicable''.
The legislators described the reactions caused by the decision to adopt the runner-up design as ''unfortunate and regrettable''.
An architectural competition was held in 1987 for the design of the HKUST campus and Mr Chan was chairman of the assessment panel.
The runner-up design, which was later adopted by the HKUST planning committee, has been accused by some committee members of being a major cause of the eventual $1.6 billion cost overrun for the university project.
The committee's report, tabled in Legco yesterday, unanimously criticised Mr Chan for acting alone in deciding to name the design that was eventually adopted for construction as runner-up, and for recommending that the university's planning committee consider it alongside the winning design.
