MTR Corp to blame for covering up delays to high-speed rail link project, Legco select committee report says
Five panel members submit ‘minority report’ demanding city’s transport chief and director of highways be held responsible
The MTR Corporation is responsible for the “deliberate cover-up” of the blunders that plagued the HK$84.4 billion high-speed rail link to Guangzhou, a Legislative Council select committee has found.
The committee, chaired by legislator Martin Liao Cheung-kong, yesterday released the findings of its inquiry into a series of delays to the troubled project, which has seen its August 2015 completion date pushed back at least three years, and its budget snowballing far beyond the original HK$65 billion.
Despite the unanimous view that there was “non-disclosure” to Legco and the public by both the Transport and Housing Bureau and the Highways Department, most members of the committee found that both parties and their officers were not involved in any deliberate cover-up.
However, five pan-democrats on the 13-member committee – Democrat Wu Chi-wai, unionist Lee Cheuk-yan, Gary Fan Kwok-wai, Charles Mok and Claudia Mo Man-ching – refused to sign the report, and instead submitted their own “minority report” setting out their views on the responsibilities of the concerned parties.
Demanding transport minister Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung step down for withholding information on the delays for five months, Fan accused him of “violating public interest” and breaching his integrity as a policy secretary.
In addition, Fan said, Director of Highways Lau Ka-keung needed to be held responsible for failure to monitor the project’s progress and for making a serious blunder in exercising his judgment.
