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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 after attending the Technovation Conference and Exhibition organised by the Airport Authority Hong Kong today (September 15):
Reporter: Is the Government optimistic in having a ceiling on budget because it is reported that even Michael Tien and Fred Ma are not optimistic about this proposal?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: I suppose the issue is not a matter between Mr Tien and Mr Ma. As far as the Government is concerned, we would not wish that this XRL (Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Express Rail Link) project will be delayed further. The latest revised timetable of the third quarter of 2018 to us is already quite a delay. We have been urging the MTR Corporation to speed up the project to have a better and closer liaison with its contractors, to manage the contractors more effectively. We don't want to have further delay.
Secondly, regarding rising cost, of course we realise that for major infrastructure projects sometimes unavoidably there might be factors beyond the project managers' control that will lead to additional cost. But the Government has also been carefully scrutinising the progress of the project. We have been closely monitoring the Corporation's performance as project manager. We are assessing to what extent the Corporation as project manager has done his job properly, to what extent he has not performed as effectively as he should be. So all these issues relating to the cost overrun, the project management effectiveness, the timetable, all these issues will be the subjects of discussion between the Government and the Corporation. So it is not a simple matter of discussion between two persons.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:36
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