Engineers Warn Profession's Reputation Is At Risk

A group of engineers say that their professional body, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, has put public confidence in the profession at risk by declaring new platforms at the Hung Hom station to be structurally safe.

The group of eight members say the HKIE's statement on the troubled project in January was premature and rushed, with members given little chance to comment.

Some 120 institution members have now signed a petition asking for a special general meeting and an explanation of the decision.

"By January, the investigation into the Sha Tin-Central rail link had not been completed," said Albert Lai, a member of the Professional Commons think tank and one of the organisers of the petition.

"Even now there are different views, including the expert witness views, that the safety of the Hung Hom Station could not be established. So it was totally inappropriate and premature for the institution to issue a statement on January 18.

"That is why we need to find out exactly why the statement was issued."

The station has been dogged by allegations of corner cutting relating to the construction of two platforms, and the MTR Corporation has been asked to conduct tests to verify if the allegations are true.

In January, it emerged that a large number of safety documents relating to the project were unaccounted for.