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Hong Kong government temporarily suspends two consultancy firms from making bids for projects

Mott MacDonald Hong Kong and CTA Consultants found to have disclosed confidential population and employment data to outsiders, resulting in contract breach

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The Planning Department projects a massive growth in population numbers for Lantau by 2026.It showed to grow by leaps and bounds Photo: Felix Wong

Two consultancy firms – Mott MacDonald Hong Kong and CTA Consultants – have been temporarily suspended from bidding for government projects after they were found to have disclosed confidential population and employment data to outsiders.

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The suspension came as the Planning Department unveiled for the first time its projections of the city’s territorial population and employment data, in which it expected a massive growth for Lantau by 2026 while projecting development in busy areas such as Central, Wan Chai, Mong Kok and Kwun Tong would stay flat.

The data release was prompted by the case of engineering giant Arup, which was found to have breached its contract after it leaked confidential internal data to a private developer involved in a Wang Chau housing project.

It was temporarily barred late last year from bidding on government projects for three months.

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On Monday, the Development Bureau confirmed the two other firms respectively violated the terms of the engineering consultancy agreements for the planning and engineering study on Kwu Tung South, and for traffic impact assessment for construction of a low-level service reservoir.

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