OpinionHong Kong’s government and the MTR Corp must strive to wipe out the public works blunders plaguing the city
Events such as the multiple MTR Corp scandals have affected public confidence in the city’s government, which in the long run could undermine its political and social stability. The government must rebuild the people’s confidence in infrastructure projects – the sooner the better.
It appears that history really does repeat itself. In 2014, MTR Corporation chief executive officer Jay Walder was forced to resign after mishandling communications pertaining to a delay in the Hong Kong section of the HK$67 billion high-speed railway link to Guangzhou.
Four years later, another major railway fiasco has shaken the city, this time a series of cover-ups associated with shoddy work at the HK$97.1 billion Sha Tin-Central link.
MTR Corp CEO Lincoln Leong Kwok-kuen will resign, while other senior managers have already left after a scandal that has profound ramifications for Hong Kong’s reputation as a leading railway operator and a world-class professional service provider – both of which have been touted as strengths it can contribute to the mainland’s “Belt and Road Initiative”.
While we look forward to a report from an independent investigation commissioned by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, our government and the MTR Corp must be able to learn from these harsh lessons.
This year’s MTR Corp scandal has definitely dampened public confidence in the company. Since senior government officials are sitting on its board, the public has legitimate reasons to question the government’s ability to supervise MTR Corp and monitor the progress of its projects.
As a matter of fact, there have been quite a few scandalous events related to other major infrastructure projects and public livelihood over the past few years, such as lead contamination in the drinking water supply at several public housing estates and the fabrication of test results for construction materials intended for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.