01 point of view
Written by: Review Editor
2020-05-13 17:45
Last update date: 2020-05-13 17:45The Government announced on Tuesday (12th) the final report of the MTR Hung Hom Station Extension Project and other issues. The report said that the project had "serious errors" and many problems were "unacceptable", including poor construction of the site and poor supervision Wait. On the one hand, the two companies, MTR and Leighton, are both responsible; on the other, the report also points out that the government has to bear some responsibility. Yun Fan, Director of the Housing Department, and Jin Zepei, Chief Executive Officer of the MTR Corporation, respectively apologized to the public. However, is it a responsibility to apologize?
The current market value of the MTR Corporation is about 260 billion, and the government owns 75.24% of the shares. However, the government's work of monitoring the MTR is shared by multiple departments, and no dedicated department has followed up. (Profile picture)
Weak government supervision
The poor construction of the project is of course the quality of the contractor. However, the government has multiple roles as supervisor, public institution investor, final approver of the project, and acceptor on the Shazhong Line. In theory, all government roles should be active Understanding the quality of the project, the government has to bear some of the responsibility for the construction of the Saudi Arabian Middle Line. As a final check, the government's performance is not as ideal. First, the MTR Corporation, which is the majority shareholder of the government, was judged by the committee to have "serious mistakes" in its management and monitoring system. "Resolute action has not been taken many times. The Government's monitoring of the MTR is obviously inadequate with regard to the construction of the Saudi Arabian Railway.
The current market value of the MTR Corporation is about 260 billion, and the government owns 75.24% of the shares. However, the government's work of monitoring the MTR is shared by multiple departments, and no dedicated department has followed up. According to the MTR Ordinance and the MTR Regulations, the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department is mainly responsible for ensuring that MTR adopts appropriate safety measures, assessing and approving changes to new or existing railways, and investigating railway safety incidents. The Railway Development Office under the Highways Department is also responsible for planning the future railway expansion of Hong Kong, and acts as the "verification supervisor" for the high-speed rail and the Saudi Central Line projects. Receive MTR reports. As for the different parts of the railway laying project, they also involve different functions of the various departments of the Fire Services Department, Buildings Department, Police Department, Transport Department and Environmental Protection Department. There are still many railway projects waiting to be completed in the future for the MTR, such as Gudong, Tuen Mun South Extension and East Kowloon Line. The development of Hong Kong's railways is under the responsibility of multiple departments and is not affiliated with each other. It will be difficult to cope with Hong Kong's future railway development.
The Government should promote the formation of a new "Railway Department" under the Transport and Housing Bureau to integrate the Railway Development Office and the Railway Branch. (Profile picture / photo by Li Zetong)
Dedicated department follow up
The Highways Department expects that after the completion of all railway projects, the total length of the Hong Kong railway network will reach more than 300 kilometers in 2031. However, on the government structure, the departments responsible for handling railway matters are scattered in the Railway Development Department of the Highways Department and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. Railway Section, etc. The incident of the Shazhong Line undoubtedly exposed the weak supervision of the government and the MTR to the contractors. In the independent investigation report of the Shazhong Line project, many of the recommendations in the report can only be followed up by multiple departments and the MTR Corporation. . The investigation results of the Shazhong Line project were released. Chen Fan and Jin Zepei apologized separately, but the apology was not enough to serve as a warning. Similar situations must be avoided in the future.
As pointed out in the survey report, not only the Bureau and the MTR management should follow up on the recommendations of the report, the government structure should also keep up with the pace of railway development. In view of the fact that there are still many railway-related projects in the future, the railway system in Hong Kong will be greatly expanded in the future. The Government should promote the formation of a "railway department" under the Transport and Housing Bureau to integrate the Railway Development Department and the Railway Branch and other departments to specifically follow up and monitor railways. For engineering and management matters, it will monitor the operation of the MTR in a unified manner and play a coordinating role for railway projects. The government must endeavour to avoid the mistake of the Saudi Central Line in the future.
[Sand Central] MTR Leighton must be held accountable in the final report
Shazhong Line is like a financial black hole MTR can no longer hide behind "shareholders' interests"
2 Billion Reinforced Shazhong Line Hung Hom Station has a long way to restore confidence
01 point of view
New Crown Pneumonia Sand Centre MTR 01 View
