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The following is the statement given by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, at a media session to respond to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the New Airport today (Friday):

The Chief Executive has already given his response to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry on the New Airport. First of all, I would like to join Mr Tung in thanking Mr Justice Woo and Dr Cheng for their admirable dedication and diligence. They have produced a comprehensive and balanced report. I would just like to make one or two points.

Firstly, I accept the Commission's findings in respect of certain inadequacies in NAPCO's monitoring functions and the responsibility of ADSCOM, which I chair. I would only say that ADSCOM and NAPCO acted in good faith and to the best of their abilities based on the information given to us at the time.

Secondly, I welcome the conclusion that the decision on the airport opening date was proper and wise, and was not influenced by political considerations. I think it is important to lay that bogey to rest.

I also note the acknowledgment that nobody could have reasonably anticipated the extent of the snowball effect of the problems encountered when the airport opened. Of course I wish we could have.

As the Chief Executive has made clear, we in the Administration are taking on board all of the lessons we have learned from this sobering experience. My colleagues and I will study the Commission's report in greater detail. ADSCOM will, on the basis of the findings and lessons learned, draw up specific guidelines so that we can avoid the same pitfalls when we next handle major infrastructural projects.

As most of you know, I have been closely associated with the airport project for over eleven years and I had high hopes for it. So I think I can say that nobody was more disappointed than I was by the serious problems we encountered at its opening. But I share the Commission's observation that in adversity, all concerned spared no efforts to overcome the problems. Indeed we put matters right swiftly and we now have an international airport which is the equal of any in the world.

We have of course paid a heavy price for the chaos on airport opening and I very much regret that and the inconvenience caused to the travelling public. But I also hope that in our positive Hong Kong spirit we will move on, wiser for the experience, and make the most of the opportunities presented to us by our magnificent new aviation hub.

End/Friday, January 22, 1999

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