Engineers question MTR Corporation’s claim that missing paperwork was result of construction firm rushing to finish job
- Associate professor Albert Yeung points to stringent processes that are supposed to govern building work
- Civil engineer Simon So puzzled how project could have continued without signed approval
Two engineering experts have challenged the MTR Corporation’s claim that paperwork for Hong Kong’s most expensive rail link was missing because the construction company was in a hurry to finish the job on time.
The railway giant revealed last week that a trove of key documents relating to the troubled Hung Hom station on the HK$97.1 billion (US$12.4 billion) Sha Tin-Central link, could not be found. The papers involved certifying work on two approach tunnels and side tracks for the station.
On Monday, during a phone-in radio programme, Albert Yeung Tak-chung of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Hong Kong questioned how that was possible.
The associate professor said there were supposed to be stringent processes in place to ensure work could not continue until other work had been approved and signed off on.
This was contrary to the explanation from Jacob Kam Chak-pui, the MTR Corp’s managing director, who previously said Leighton Contractors (Asia), the lead construction company, had failed to submit more than 60 per cent of inspection documents for works because of the rush in the construction, so managers approved the work on site, but could not get the documentation afterwards.
However, Yeung rejected that suggestion and said the submission of documents was standard industry practice and they had to be countersigned by supervisory staff before workers could continue the next stage of work.