Final cost of Hong Kong’s scandal-hit rail link drops to HK$90.7 billion – but it’s still the most expensive in city

Previous cost overruns of HK$16.5 billion submitted by the MTR Corp revised to slightly over HK$10 billion, according to government paper

Project, plagued by allegations of shoddy work and reports of missing documents, suffered repeated delays and cost overruns

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The MTR Corporation’s biggest shareholder is the Hong Kong government. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:00am, 29 Feb 2020Updated: 7:29am, 29 Feb 2020

The final cost of Hong Kong’s scandal-hit Sha Tin-Central rail link has been fixed at HK$90.7 billion (US$11.6 billion), down from an estimated HK$99.1 billion, after the government revised budget overruns and left the MTR Corporation to pick up the tab for the project’s partial opening and reinforcement work.

But it remains the city’s most expensive railway project, exceeding the HK$84.4 billion for the high-speed rail link.

In a paper submitted to the legislature on Friday, the Transport and Housing Bureau said the government had revised previous cost overruns of HK$16.5 billion (US$2.1 billion) submitted by the MTR Corp to slightly over HK$10 billion.

In December 2017, the embattled rail giant said the 17km (11-mile) line was expected to come in at HK$16.5 billion above its original budget, meaning the cost could reach HK$97.1 billion.

Work at Hung Hom MTR station has been plagued by problems. Photo: Sam Tsang

The project, plagued by allegations of shoddy work and reports of missing documents at the Hung Hom station since mid 2018, suffered repeated delays and cost overruns.