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The following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan, at the Motion Debate on the LegCo Select Committee Report on the Airport today (Wednesday):

Madame President,

I have listened very carefully to the speeches of Honourable Members today and the many points of view expressed so far underline the fact that the problems surrounding the opening of our new airport last July have triggered a public and political debate of some intensity.

That is perfectly understandable, given the depth of disappointment, frustration and anger we all felt at the time. That reaction was also a measure of the high standards we have always set for ourselves, and must continue to set for ourselves. It is what has made us strong and successful as a community.

There are other ways in which we judge ourselves, and one of them is our ability to face the facts. To recognise our mistakes, to learn - indeed profit - from them, and then move on. I hope, and I believe, that at the end of six long months of enquiry and questions, public examination and investigation, of sound bites and soul searching, we can confirm that those intrinsic qualities remain intact, and that we are wiser for the experience. I can assure you that it has been a sobering experience for the Administration.

Madame President, the subject at hand today is the LegCo Select Committee Report on the New Airport. Taken together with the Reports of the Commission of Inquiry and the Ombudsman, the main issues raised by them have been thoroughly ventilated in public, through the press and now in this debate in our legislature. Members have touched on many aspects of the Select Committee Report. I think the first point to note here is that we are all involved in an honest effort to find the truth, and learn from it. This is an exercise in transparency and accountability to which the Administration has been committed from the outset. We took the initiative to establish the independent judicial inquiry conducted by Mr Justice Woo and Dr Edgar Cheng. I would like to stress that this independent judicial inquiry is not, as alleged by the Hon Lee Cheuk-yan, the shield of the Government. Such a proposition is grossly unfair to the integrity of the Government, to Mr Justice Woo and Dr Edgar Cheng. The Government is indeed committed to get to the bottom of the truth. We cooperated fully in providing witnesses and evidence to the Commission and the Select Committee. We made available all the documentation and information required of us by them, and by the Ombudsman. We held nothing back.

And at the end of the day, all three reports were published. The Chief Executive and the Government attached equal importance to all these reports. We accepted their recommendations and have moved quickly and in a determined way to implement them, where we had not already taken the initiative ourselves. As an Administration, we shouldered our share of the blame and accepted our responsibility. Both the Chief Executive and I apologised for the inconvenience caused to so many people, and indeed for the economic losses which resulted from the chaos.

This was an unreserved apology which I have no hesitation in repeating today.

The silver lining to the very dark cloud which hung over Chek Lap Kok in the immediate aftermath of opening day is the fact that we so quickly overcame the problems in the passenger terminal and, subsequently, the cargo handling side. We can now point to an airport that has already won recognition as one of the finest in the world. We should be proud of it. In agonising over what went wrong, why, and who was to blame, it is sometimes easy to forget this.

Our new airport is already running at high efficiency and has surpassed the standards at Kai Tak. The airport now handles on a daily basis an average of 460 flights, 80 000 passengers, 4 to 5 000 tonnes of air cargo. 90% of the passengers can complete their immigration check-in within 15 minutes, collect their luggage within 10 minutes upon their arrival and reach downtown Central Business District within an hour upon the touch down of their planes. Such standards are comparable with the best standards at other international airports. The Second Customer Survey carried out by Lingnan College for the Airport Authority in late December revealed that 92.6% of respondents described themselves as "satisfied" with the services at the airport, compared with a similar figure of 88.2% in August.

Madame President, on the question of responsibility, a number of issues are clear. The Select Committee has concluded that the Airport Authority (AA) management bears the greatest and most direct responsibility for the fiasco on airport opening day (AOD). As for the suspension and curtailment of air cargo handling during the first few weeks of airport operations, the Select Committee is of the view that it is largely the responsibility of Hongkong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (HACTL). These conclusions are consistent with the findings of the other two inquiries.

The Select Committee also examined the question of the responsibility of Government and certain individual officers for the problems on AOD. The Airport Development Steering Committee (ADSCOM) was responsible for overseeing the ten mega projects under the Airport Core Programme, which included the airport. So I accept that ADSCOM, which I chair, has "not fully discharged its duty in ascertaining the readiness of the airport on opening".

However, we should bear in mind that the AA was set up at great expense and for good reasons. We sought the consent of this Council to enact legislation to confer upon it statutory powers and responsibilities to construct and operate the new airport. As intended, the AA is run according to prudent commercial principles free from bureaucratic interference. It has its own board and its own management. There is no question of ADSCOM operating as a "super AA Board" or for ADSCOM to act above the law to direct the AA. Put simply, the Government could not and should not intervene in the affairs of the AA or duplicate its efforts.

The duties of ADSCOM in overseeing the airport project was exercised with the assistance of the New Airport Projects Co-ordination Office (NAPCO). Whilst we could debate the extent to which NAPCO should have been more probing and proactive in verifying information provided by AA, we ultimately had to rely on the AA for the most up-to-date assessment of airport operational readiness because the AA was closest to the operations on the ground.

I make these points not to duck the Administration's responsibilities. This is simply to put the relationship between the ADSCOM and the AA in the proper context.I have acknowledged that we and NAPCO could have done more to avoid the painful experience on airport opening day, particularly in overall risk assessment and contingency planning.

Madame President, all of the dedication, diligence, hard work and effort that has gone into the three Reports - not to mention our collective anguish - will have gone for nothing if we do not absorb and act on the lessons which we have learned from our mistakes.

The Select Committee, for example, has made 15 specific recommendations. The Commission and the Ombudsman have also made useful observations. We are examining them all vigorously so that we can incorporate them into a new set of guidelines now being drawn up for major projects. These guidelines will focus on the demarcation of responsibility and authority, co-ordination and monitoring mechanisms, transparency, channels of communication, checks and balances, the use of external experts, accountability, risk assessment and contingency planning.

A first draft of the guidelines has already been drawn up and is currently being scrutinized by the relevant bureaux and department. We are working towards finalising these guidelines within the next few weeks.

Members will know that the AA have already set up a special working group to consider the findings and the recommendations of the inquiries, with particular attention to the lessons to be learnt and areas for improvement. One special area which the AA will look at is the ways and means of strengthening its working relationship with its franchisees such as HACTL with a view to improving the monitoring of their performance.

Additionally, the AA have introduced a number of measures to improve their contingency plans and procedures since airport opening. They have also set up a task force to carry out an overall risk assessment and review of contingency planning.

On management issues, the AA will commission a further review of its management structure. It will also engage external legal expertise to advise on any action that may be taken on individuals named in the reports and matters relating to gratuities. I understand that the AA Board will attach top priority to implementing these measures and both the Government and Non-Government Members will work closely together towards this end.

I can assure Honourable Members that these promises of improvement are not empty words. Let me give you an example. The Government, AA, HACTL and the airport community have been working very closely to improve co-ordination and communication so as to enhance our crisis management capabilities ever since we overcame the initial problems. That is why, when Super Terminal One's power distribution system broke down on October 15 last year, all the airport players were able to deal with the problem swiftly and effectively without causing any serious disruption to air cargo services. Without this coordination and close-knit teamwork, the problem could have escalated into another major crisis. I think this demonstrates that we have learnt from our lessons quickly and well.

Madame President, I would like at this point to touch briefly on the question of the personal responsibility of civil servants involved in this issue. The Civil Service has a well established system, clearly defined procedures and standard of proof to deal with misconduct, negligence or dereliction of duty. The Administration will take into account the findings of the three reports, consider the criticisms made against individual officials, and take appropriate action. My colleagues and I are fully prepared to shoulder the responsibility and subject ourselves to this test.

Before I conclude I would like to comment on a point of procedure. The Select Committee's findings raise the question whether as a matter of natural justice in any public inquiry where serious allegations or penalty suggestions are to be made against individuals, that the individuals concerned should be given an opportunity to respond to those allegations before they become public, and that their responses should be taken into account in the final report. This is what the Ombudsman and the Commission of Inquiry have done. This issue merits discussion between the Administration and the Council in due course so that the ground rules governing future such inquiries are clear and acceptable to all concerned.

Madame President, this has been a wide-ranging debate. There have been many views expressed, different positions taken. After countless hours of investigations, three very comprehensive Reports, acres of newsprint and hours of air time devoted to the very minutiae of this subject, nobody can say that we have not exposed ourselves to the most critical self-examination. All three reports deserve to be read in their entirety.

Our new airport is the culmination of many years of hard work on the part of many - yes including those who have been personally criticised. Now that the issue has been so exhaustively aired, I believe the Government, AA and HACTL will adopt a positive and open attitude to deal with the remaining problems. I hope we can move on and concentrate our collective efforts in promoting our magnificent airport and making the most of the opportunities presented by it.

Thank you.

END/Wednesday, February 3, 1999

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