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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, at a media session today (May 3) on the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link at the West Wing lobby, Central Government Offices, Tamar:
Reporter: Will there be any punishment for the MTR and whether or not do you know they will foot the bill?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: The purpose of my standup here is not to talk about penalties or whatever. My main purpose here is to clarify what happened during that critical period at the end of November (last year) before the Railway Subcommittee (Legislative Council Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways) Meeting.
Reporter: Can you briefly explain what happened during the process? Are you guys trying to cover up for the MTR?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: No, we are not trying to cover up.
Reporter: You already knew about the delay in construction in November, why didn't you tell the public?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: In the course of implementation of the project, or indeed of any major infrastructure projects, there are delays in different contracts. Some contracts are critical to the overall completion date, some may not be that critical. So as far as the professional judgments concerned, of course it is for the professional people, the Highways Department, the Railway Development Office, they will keep an eye on the progress. I know of course the overall progress and by early November last year, my bureau and the Highways Department, they came to the view that it is not realistic, based on the information submitted up to that point, to expect the commissioning, service commissioning of the Express Rail (the Hong Kong section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link) to take place within 2015. We were considering to inform the Railway Subcommittee (Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways) Meeting of the LegCo (Legislative Council) that there is possibility that the service commissioning may go beyond 2015. Of course subsequently, next day, the CEO of the MTR Corporation rang me and opposed the idea of telling the ExCo (Executive Council), sorry the LegCo, that commissioning would take place beyond 2015. The two sides urgently held a meeting that evening which was chaired by the Permanent Secretary of my bureau. At the meeting both sides held different scenarios - one more optimistic, the MTR Corporation scenario, the Government side we held a more conservative scenario. So there was disagreement. It was not collusion in all senses. But at the end of the day, we still need to agree how to inform the LegCo. Because the MTR Corporation thought that 2015 commissioning would still be achievable. The bureau did not agree with that. At the end of the day, the way to inform the LegCo was we have to be factual. So the factual report to LegCo was construction works will be completed within 2015, followed by six to nine months testing and trial operations.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, May 3, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:06
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