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The following is the transcript (English part) of the media session given by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, today (Friday) after the publication of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the New Airport:
Mr Tung: The report of the Commission which you all have, and my statement to that report, should all be in your hands by now.
First of all, I would like to thank Justice Woo, as well as Edgar Cheng, for doing an excellent job in such a compressed time frame. It is a very detailed report, it is a good report, it is fair and it is a good report. The report really highlighted two areas which have given rise to all the problems.
The first is that it talks about the accountability and the adequacy of communication of different departments within the government, as well as the government and various public organisations such as the Airport Authority, and have we got very clear accountability where the responsibility lies. And these are the areas we would need to draw lessons from in the future.
The report also pointed out that in terms of risk-assessment and also contingency planning, these are the things needed to be done constantly, frequently. And unfortunately, it was not done with a great deal of adequacy or thoroughness.
Actually, the Commission highlighted 42 areas of problems, some are major, some are actually quite minor, and also pointed out that the responsibility actually goes with ADSCOM, with NAPCO, with the AA Board, AA senior management, as well as HACTL.
I think from the government's point of view we will accept the criticism. We want to learn from this episode as much as we can, to make sure that our mistakes would never be made again. I'm quite sure that the AA will do the same thing.
When the airport began its operations on July 6, everyone in Hong Kong had great expectations. I did too. Obviously, we were all let down very much and the disappointment that was felt by everybody was overwhelming.
From that time onward, what we have been doing is on the one hand trying to understand what happened, where the truth lies, what lessons we can learn from it, and the other is to make sure how quickly the airport can start operations again and operate in a normal and proper way. And after the efforts of many, many people, I am glad to say the airport is now operating very well, it's now being recognised internationally as one of the best airports in the world, and that is something we should all be very proud of.
This is, in fact, the fruit of all people of Hong Kong, the fruit of our efforts; not just a few people but all of Hong Kong. And this is also the effort of those people who have been involved over a ten year period in the building of the airport as well as the other core projects associated with the airport. And this is also the effort of those people, thousands of them in the airport every day for the last six months, working away trying to make sure the airport operates in a normal manner. And I think these are the people who deserve our encouragement, a pat on the back, because it is at this sort of time when they are working their hearts out, a pat would be a very, very good thing indeed.
So while we try to learn from this particular experience, we must at the same time look forward. The important thing now is to make sure the airport is an airport we are all very proud of, and it's an airport which will continue to make a major contribution as our economy recovers. Thank you very much.
Question: (Inaudible)
Mr Tung: Let me say this again in English, what I just said now in Chinese. I thought the report was a very good report, a very fair, unbiased report. And the point is that when you have to deal with issues the report dealt with the issues, when the report had to deal with people it dealt with people, and it's a very good way to go about it, and it is the right way. And I would suggest that if you have the time, read through the report properly, and I hope you will draw the same conclusion as I do.
Question: ADSCOM was ultimately responsible for the decision on when to open the airport, why shouldn't it ultimately take responsibility - the Chairman of ADSCOM take responsibility - for the problems associated with the opening?
Mr Tung: I have said this many, many times already. Maybe I should repeat it one more time for your benefit. As I have said, the report is a very fair one. Where it's necessary, it highlighted the issues, the issues that needed to be dealt with, the lessons needed to be learnt. Where it's necessary, it named the people because the Commission thought it was important to name the people. That is the way I read the report and I thought it was a very fair, very balanced report, and I fully support the findings of that particular report.
Question: Mr Tung, are you worried that this document - a whole string of legal battles will arise because of the ...?
Mr Tung: Well, I tell you, if there is such a situation, there is nothing you or I can do about it. The important thing is that it has to be a good report, a report that shows up to the people what really did happen, what are the criticisms, how we learn from it. If there should be some legal action taken by people, unfortunately that is the way it is. Thank you very much.
End/Friday, January 22, 1999
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