Hong Kong lawmakers reach across political divide to call on government to overhaul management of MTR Corporation
- Pan-democrats and pro-establishment politicians alike want the government to buy back a full stake in the rail operator and monitor the beleaguered firm
- The call comes as Legco debates a non-binding notion on Thursday calling for officials to tackle major issues, including repeated MTR fare rises
In a rare show of unity, lawmakers across Hong Kong’s political spectrum have joined hands to urge the government to overhaul the management of Hong Kong’s embattled rail operator, which was set to raise ticket prices amid a series of construction scandals and service breakdowns.
The call came as the Legislative Council debated on Thursday a non-binding motion, calling for officials to tackle Hong Kong’s major issues, dubbed the “three mountains”, reportedly identified by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor back in 2016.
The three major issues are the controversial management of public housing shopping centres by the Link Reit, repeated MTR fare increases, and the scrapping of the offsetting mechanism for the Mandatory Provident Fund, which allows bosses to settle severance or long-service payments through employee contributions.
Lam said last year that she had never publicly promised to take on the “three mountains”. She said the phrase only originated from a closed-doors gathering with some lawmakers in May 2016.
The motion was approved on Thursday, with 45 lawmakers voting yes, seven voting no and five abstaining. Although motions introduced by lawmakers are not binding on the government, they are seen as a symbolic way of putting pressure on it.
Tabling the motion, pro-establishment legislator Alice Mak Mei-kuen, of the Federation of Trade Unions, criticised officials for doing too little to remove the “three mountains” since they took office in July 2017.
“With a lack of competition in railway operations in Hong Kong, the MTR’s project and general management, and service quality have deteriorated. Yet, it has still increased its fares every year,” she said.
“The government should come up with measures to solve these problems … to address residents’ discontent.”
Mak’s party colleague Michael Luk Chung-hung echoed her call, saying more officials should be appointed to sit on the MTR Corp’s board.
The rail operator announced last month it would raise fares by 3.3 per cent under a fare-setting mechanism at a time when the firm has been hard hit by a series of construction scandals and service breakdowns.
The announcement came shortly after tens of thousands of commuters were affected by the suspension of services between Central and Admiralty stations on the Tsuen Wan line, after two trains crashed during a trial run for a new signal system. One driver was injured in the collision.
Under the fare mechanism deal between the MTR Corp and the government, ticket price increases are calculated based on the inflation rate and a wage index for transport workers.
Veteran pan-democrat lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung said on Thursday that it was time to overhaul the “unreasonable” system.
“Fare adjustment should take into account the profits that the MTR Corp has made … In the long-run, the government should acquire all shares in the MTR Corp, and place it under Legco’s monitoring,” he said.
Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung agreed.
“Popularly elected lawmakers should be appointed to the MTR’s board, and its fare adjustments should be approved by Legco,” he proposed.
Despite being plagued by a series of allegations about shoddy construction on the HK$97.1 billion Sha Tin-Central link, the MTR Corp reported an underlying profit of HK$11.2 billion for 2018 – a 7.1 per cent increase.
Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung dismissed the lawmakers’ suggestions.
“We would not buy back all its shares. It was more important for the government to regulate it effectively, and right now we already have four officials sitting on the corporation’s 20-member board,” he said.
Cheung also said he would ask the MTR’s new CEO Jacob Kam Chak-pui to improve the corporation’s management.
