Hong Kong leader vows further action after transport chief admits he was kept in dark on mega bridge scandal

But Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying declines to commit to more detailed tests before opening of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge

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Engineers and lawmakers have called for more extensive tests to be done before the bridge is opened. Photo: David Wong

Published: 12:32pm, 6 Jun 2017Updated: 10:56pm, 6 Jun 2017

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying promised on Tuesday to look into communication issues within the government a day after his transport minister admitted he had been kept in the dark for nearly a year about problems with a multibillion-dollar mega bridge project.

But Leung, whose five-year term will end on June 30, declined to commit to a call from engineers and lawmakers to open the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge only after detailed tests were done to ensure its safety.

At a Legislative Council transport panel meeting on Monday, Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung admitted he was the last to know about the falsification of concrete test results by employees of lab service contractor Jacobs China, which could compromise the structural safety of the bridge.

Officials insisted that they had since carried out non-destructive concrete strength tests on the samples and at the site, but engineers and lawmakers proposed that the government conduct more detailed non-destructive tests, even if it meant delaying the bridge’s opening.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying expressed his condolences to the victims of the London terror attack. Photo: Sam Tsang

Before the Executive Council’s weekly meeting on Tuesday, Leung said: “It is important that we have done a lot of tests on the site, and all results show that there is no problem with the concrete.