'Leighton Shoved Aside Foreman At Key Stages'

The foreman who oversees bar-fixing works in areas where problems have been found at Hung Hom MTR Station said on Wednesday that the main project contractor Leighton was in such a rush to complete works that they didn’t even require his presence during some crucial inspections.

Speaking at a government-appointed inquiry looking into flawed work at the station, Ng Man-chun, who reports to sub-contractor Wing & Kwong, said he is usually required to be present when key inspections are carried out, to answer any questions later.

But during the construction of the joints where flaws have been found, he said, Leighton didn’t require him to be present, nor did it ask him to sign any forms to confirm the inspection process.

Ng agreed with the commission’s counsel, Ian Pennicott, that Leighton was in a rush to get things done and would rather Ng and other workers proceed to the next stage of the work as soon as possible.

The foreman also conceded that only around 70 percent of rebars had been fitted into the couplers at one of the problematic joints because some couplers were embedded inside concrete, and despite repeated requests for Leighton to chip off the concrete, the company had not done so.