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My TakeDemands put MTR on collision course
- The government’s love for showcase infrastructure projects seems to mean the troubled railway operator is repeatedly forced to bite off more than it can chew
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Alex Loin Toronto
Our government takes accountability seriously and punishes those who fail. Well, not its own bureaucrats, of course, but those in the MTR Corporation!
The top leadership of the city’s primary rail operator, which is 75 per cent owned by the government, has been purged time and again following scandals over dodgy construction works, cost overruns, delays and their cover-ups. But whether that has improved or degraded the performance of one of the world’s great rail systems is another matter.
The latest has to do with an unprecedented two-day breakdown of services between Admiralty and Central on the Tsuen Wan Line after a crash involving two trains during a trial run for a new signalling system.
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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is talking tough again: “Many public bodies will encounter problems over increasing work and calls for transparency … If it requires the government’s intervention to instil change, I am more than willing to do so.”
But there are no more heads to roll. Lincoln Leong Kwok-kuen has been replaced by MTR veteran Jacob Kam Chak-pui as CEO while chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang will step down at the end of June. Both fell on their own swords for the scandal-hit HK$97.1 billion Sha Tin-Central link, the MTR’s most expensive project to date. Other fall guys included projects director Philco Wong Nai-keung and three general project managers, Lee Tsz-man, Jason Wong Chi-ching and Aidan Rooney.
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Ironically, Leong was hired to clean up the mess left behind by Jay Walder, who left under a cloud over completion delays at the cross-border high-speed rail link.
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