Inquiry Must Cover All MTR Scandals, Say Lawmakers

Legislators from both the pro-government and pro-democracy camps were in agreement on Tuesday that the scope of a planned commission of inquiry into a safety scandal at Hung Hom MTR Station should be expanded to cover concerns about the future To Kwa Wan Station as well.

Ahead of this week's Executive Council meeting, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced there would be a judge-led inquiry into the shoddy construction at Hung Hom, where steel bars were cut short because they had not been fitted correctly.

But on Monday, it was also revealed that a wall at To Kwa Wan Station had not been constructed to design specifications, with steel supports and cement stripped away because it was too large.

Lawmaker Priscilla Leung, from the Business and Professionals Alliance, said the probe must look at all the safety concerns related to the future Shatin-Central Link.

"They should consider to broaden the scope, the terms of reference, in order to cover all these related scandals. If the same committee could cover related problems, I think it would be much better," Leung said.

"But if they decided to take some time to see whether or not they need to set up another committee, I would leave that to the government."

Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan agreed that the scope of the investigation should be wider. She also urged MTR Corporation chairman Frederick Ma to step down over the saga.

"I don't think he is a proper person to be appointed by the government after this year ends," Chan said.

"I don't think he monitors the MTRC in an efficient way and I do believe there may be some other more appropriate person to be appointed."

MTR officials have been accused of changing their version of events over the Hung Hom scandal as the media made further revelations. Ma also came under fire for saying the railway operator would be wasting its time alerting the public to problems found with its projects because they would not understand the technical details.

Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, meanwhile, said an overseas expert should be appointed to the investigative panel, noting that most such experts in Hong Kong are "closely related to the MTR business."