MTR incoming chief Frederick Ma and minister Anthony Cheung disagree over government responsibility for Guangzhou rail link fiasco
MTR's incoming chief and minister disagree on government responsibility
A war of words broke out between the MTR Corp's incoming chief and the transport minister yesterday over cost overruns affecting the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, as the two disagreed on whether the government should be held responsible for the fiasco.
Under a controversial agreement announced on Monday, the link will be completed in the third quarter of 2018, with the cost revised to HK$84.42 billion.
It means the government has to persuade a highly sceptical Legislative Council Finance Committee to approve HK$19.6 billion in extra funding by February, otherwise the 26km line from West Kowloon to the border will be stopped in its tracks. It has already cost about HK$50 billion and is 75 per cent finished.
Secretary for Transport and Housing Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung had said that the government reserved the right to take legal action against the MTRC over the delays and cost overruns after the mega project is completed.
But the corporation's chairman-designate, Frederick Ma Si-hang, told a Commercial Radio interviewer that the government had to share the blame.
"The MTR could have done better … but it wasn't all-powerful in deciding everything, because the government took part as well," the former government minister said. "The director of highways has been monitoring the project as the chairman of many of our committees, so I think to be fair, one cannot say that the MTR is fully responsible for all wrongdoings."