UNUSUALLY bad weather has slowed construction on the Tsing Ma Bridge, it was revealed yesterday, with further delays expected during the remaining months of the typhoon season.
Project director of the Anglo-Japanese Construction Joint Venture, Nick Hobson, said heavy rains had significantly slowed work on occasions, but had not brought it to a halt.
But with the work of running thousands of wires across to form the bridge's cables being so delicate, a typhoon signal higher than Number Three could bring all work to an abrupt stop.
''With high wind speeds there will be a time when you can't do it,'' Mr Hobson said.
''In the very worst weather certain operations have come to a stop, but that is inevitable and we have allowed for that.
''You just cannot carry on working in some of the weather conditions that we experience here. I don't think there are many construction outfits in the world that would be working in that weather.'' The territory's typhoon season normally runs from April to October, but can be longer. A Royal Observatory spokesman said last night that, since April 1, 2,078.6 millimetres of rain had fallen, and the heavy rains warning had been hoisted five times.
