No Need To Rebuild Hung Hom MTR Site: Probe Panel

The commission of inquiry looking into the Hung Hom MTR Station construction scandal has concluded in its interim report that the diaphragm wall and platform slab construction works are safe, and it’s not necessary to rebuild or strengthen them.

Announcing this at a media briefing on Tuesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that the panel has found that there is no need for any consolidation work.

But the report found that those works were not executed in accordance with the contract in extending the station for the Shatin-Central Link.

The commission was set up after reports of reinforcement bars being fitted into a platform slab were deliberately cut short, sparking fears that the project was unsafe. It was also revealed later that workers had trimmed the diaphragm wall without informing the authorities.

However, the commission said that after considering all the evidence, it finds that “it was not extensive or systematic” that rebars were cut.

It added that it “appears to have been an arbitrary estimate” that the managing director of subcontractor China Technology, Jason Poon, thought that 5 percent of the rebars had been cut.

Poon had alleged a large-scale cutting of rebars. Some parts of the report, however, are redacted to avoid any prejudice to the relevant criminal investigations and prosecutions, if any.