MTR Report Confirms To Kwa Wan Station Blunder

An MTR report for the government confirmed on Tuesday that two walls at the future To Kwa Wan Station have been pared back incorrectly, as it also revealed that a member of the corporation's staff faces disciplinary action for spotting the problem but failing to report it.

The report, demanded by the government as the railway operator found itself embroiled in one safety scare after another over the past few weeks, says that parts of two internal walls were trimmed in an unauthorised manner.

Workers also removed reinforcement bars from the walls and three separate areas measuring 60 square metres in total now deviate from the approved design.

But the report says the main contractor, a Samsung-Hsin Chong joint venture, has told MTR bosses that after conducting tests on the walls, it is certain that the deviation has not affected the safety of the structures.

"The corporation is very disappointed with the contractor for not following the approved drawings when undertaking the minor remedial works for the over-cast concrete, and we take such contravention very seriously," the report says.

It says an area much larger than the section thought to be problematic will be "opened up" and the corporation will supervise all remedial work.

The report also reveals that an MTR site inspector had noticed that horizontal reinforcement bars were missing from part of a wall, but failed to report the problem.

A disciplinary process for the inspector will get underway, the report says, and action may also be taken against the contractor.

As well as To Kwa Wan Station, safety scares at Hung Hom Station and the future Exhibition Centre Station in Wan Chai have been revealed by lawmakers and the media since the end of May.

The government has ordered a Commission of Inquiry to be set up to look into the Hung Hom concerns, which involve steel bars securing a platform to walls being cut short because they had been fitted incorrectly.