Coronavirus: Hong Kong quarantine camp contract to go to tender following outcry over earlier award to state-owned firm without selection process

Officials came under fire for giving first-phase contract, worth HK$194 million, to state-owned China Harbour Engineering without selection process

Architectural Services Department said earlier decision was due to urgency of building quarantine camps

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The Penny’s Bay camp will be built on a four-hectare plot near a site reserved for Hong Kong Disneyland’s expansion. Photo: May Tse

Published: 12:32am, 7 Mar 2020Updated: 6:08pm, 11 Jun 2021

Hong Kong officials will award the contract to build a major quarantine camp by open tender, after they were heavily criticised for giving part of the 600-room project to a state-owned enterprise without following the normal practice.

The Architectural Services Department confirmed that the second phase of the facility, involving 500 rooms, on a site at Penny’s Bay on Lantau Island, would be awarded through the bidding process, which opened on Friday.

Construction was expected to begin in April and be completed in July.

Last week, the department came under fire for giving the first-phase contract, worth HK$194 million (US$25 million), to state-owned China Harbour Engineering, without a selection process. Officials cited urgency as a reason and stressed due process was followed. That part will be delivered by May.

A quarantine camp has also been built at Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village. Photo: Martin Chan

On Friday, a department spokesman explained the decision was due to the project’s urgency amid the coronavirus epidemic, insisting the process complied with the relevant rules.