Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3052938/coronavirus-lauding-efficiency-beijings-man-hong-kong-luo
Hong Kong/ Politics

Coronavirus: lauding efficiency, Beijing’s man in Hong Kong Luo Huining visits virus quarantine camp

  • Liaison office says construction of Lei Yue Mun site finished four days earlier than planned
  • But government still faces criticism for skipping usual tendering processes when giving contracts to state-owned companies
Luo Huining at Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village on Friday, visiting the new quarantine facilities there. Photo: Handout

Beijing’s top man in Hong Kong on Friday visited builders on the site of a coronavirus quarantine camp, praising their efficiency and lauding the state-owned enterprise that employed them for “demonstrating its commitment”.

Luo Huining’s visit to Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village came as the city government took flak for handing the contracts for expanding two quarantine camps to state-owned companies, without the normal tendering process.

The camps are intended to house people considered at risk of carrying the coronavirus, which causes Covid-19 and had by Friday infected 94 people locally, two of them fatally.

According to a statement from the liaison office, Luo, its director, and his deputy Chou Hong went to the site, where work on the first batch of about 180 units had been completed.

Luo praised the workers for their hard work, and expressed “full recognition” of their employer, China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong).

“Strictly complying with Hong Kong’s construction standards, [the company] has overcome difficulties, and worked day and night with high efficiency and quality,” Luo said.

“Everyone in society should contribute and fight against the epidemic in unity. The city should be proud of those making efforts, and be ashamed of those doing damage.”

The official statement said construction finished four days earlier than planned, after an elite team of builders was sent to the site, and worked 24 hours a day.

The liaison office said construction work at the Lei Yue Mun site was finished four days early. Photo: Sam Tsang
The liaison office said construction work at the Lei Yue Mun site was finished four days early. Photo: Sam Tsang

The second batch of 234 units was expected to be finished in April.

“We spent 28 days, a total of 600 hours, to finish the construction,” a company manager told Luo, in a video posted on Facebook by the foreign ministry’s office in the city.

The visit came a day after 22 pro-democracy legislators wrote a joint letter to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, urging her to explain why contracts to build the camps were awarded without the usual tendering process.

The government last week revealed that China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) had won the HK$70 million Lei Yue Mun contract. And officials on Tuesday said they had awarded a HK$194 million contract to another mainland enterprise, China Harbour Engineering, to build temporary quarantine facilities on a four-hectare government plot at Penny’s Bay on Lantau Island, which would provide at least 600 units.

They said direct commissioning was necessary because of the projects’ urgency, and the processes complied with relevant rules.

Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, a China watcher and senior lecturer at Baptist University, believed Luo – whose replacement of Wang Zhimin in January was seen as Beijing showing its will to break Hong Kong’s political deadlock – was taking the chance to demonstrate the advantages of the Chinese system.

“Luo’s visit demonstrates his support for the Hong Kong government, showcasing Beijing’s ‘supreme efficiency’ and caring for Hong Kong,” he said. “Fighting against the epidemic is the No 1 priority in Beijing’s view. Skipping the normal tendering process may be unusual in Hong Kong, but that aligns with the governance culture on the mainland.”

Earlier this month, Luo called on Chinese enterprises to help ensure market stability in the city, especially for daily necessities, and offer financial relief to local businesses hit by the outbreak.

Pan-democrat lawmaker Eddie Chu Hoi-dick on Friday said Luo was trying to launch an “image building” project, similar to how officials in Wuhan, the contagion’s epicentre, built two hospitals in days.

“The PR show was scripted since the project was directly awarded to a state-owned enterprise. It aims to show how the country has helped Hong Kong fight against the virus outbreak,” Chu said.

But he said Hongkongers would question why the government had to skip the tendering process – which he said would have lasted only eight to 10 days – and worry whether any conflict of interest was involved.