What does missing document scandal mean for future of Hong Kong’s HK$97.1 billion Sha Tin-Central rail link?
- Unauthorised changes and missing inspection forms raise further concerns over safety at line’s Hung Hom station
Revelations about unauthorised changes and missing documents have raised major safety concerns over Hong Kong’s most expensive rail project, on top of existing allegations of a cover-up involving shoddy construction on the HK$97.1 billion (US$12.4 billion) Sha Tin-Central rail link.
Leighton Contractors (Asia), the main contractor for the line’s Hung Hom station, was earlier accused of cutting short reinforcement bars and not fitting them properly into couplers at the platforms, as well as changing supporting diaphragm walls without authorisation.
The newly surfaced issues add to the woes of the embattled MTR Corporation, which oversees the project. Transport minister Frank Chan Fan admitted on Wednesday that the news could mean further delays, and that the government had no idea when the line might be fully opened.
Documents missing because workers were in a rush, MTR senior manager says
1. What is latest scandal about?
The MTR Corp has revealed that more than 60 per cent of the documents certifying work on two approach tunnels and the side tracks for Hung Hom station had never been submitted by Leighton to the MTR Corp to countersign. Unapproved design changes had also been made to the structures, involving the use of couplers to connect reinforcement bars to replace the use of lapping bars.
The discovery raised serious questions about how Leighton had been allowed to continue construction without the having the documents countersigned by supervisory staff.
