My Take | More stations on Sha Tin-Central link should face scrutiny
- By the time Hung Hom station opens it will have faced so much scrutiny it should be the safest station on the MTR network
- It is not clear we can say the same about other stations on the HK$97.1 billion link
Given the construction lapses, lax supervision and alleged cover-ups that have been so far uncovered, are we to assume that problems have only been confined to just one station on the Sha Tin-Central link?
This is a rhetorical question. There should be follow-through to probe problems at other stations on the HK$97.1 billion (US$12.4 billion) MTR link as well.
The government successfully restricted the investigative mandate of the commission of inquiry – headed by former Court of Final Appeal judge Michael Hartmann – to the Hung Hom station. Opposition lawmakers, not unreasonably, are lobbying for a separate investigation. But they bungled it again; or was it a half-hearted attempt which they didn’t believe in themselves? The way they presented their demand made it easy for Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung to ridicule and shoot it down.
“This would only lead to duplication and redundancy, and is not very meaningful,” he said.
Of course it would, if it were confined to covering the same ground as Harmann’s commission. Lawmakers should have made it clear they are not repeating the same inquiry over Hung Hom, but other stations with potential problems as well.
We already know of unauthorised work on an internal wall and the removal of reinforcement bars at To Kwa Wan station.