Hong Kong lawmaker willing to join opposition in call for special probe into MTR’s HK$97.1 billion link scandal if judge-led inquiry not expanded

Pro-establishment legislator Priscilla Leung urges government to include subsidence at residential blocks around To Kwa Wan station in Hung Hom station scandal probe

Reading Time:2 minutes

Concern groups protest ahead of the Kowloon City District Council meeting. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 10:59pm, 16 Aug 2018Updated: 2:30pm, 17 Aug 2018

A key pro-establishment party has warned it could join the opposition’s call to invoke the legislature’s special powers to investigate construction scandals clouding Hong Kong’s most expensive rail project as public discontent mounts over the handling of the saga.

Lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, said on Thursday that should the government refuse to extend an inquiry to cover concerns over sinking residential blocks caused by construction at To Kwa Wan station on the Sha Tin-Central link she would support an investigation by the Legislative Council.

The alliance has seven members in Legco, including Leung.

One option was to invoke special powers under the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance, said Leung, who led a rally before a meeting of Kowloon City District Council attended by representatives from embattled rail giant MTR Corporation and the government.

Kowloon City district councillors discuss the subsidence problems. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

A judge-led inquiry will look into shoddy construction at Hung Hom station, where steel bars were cut short and plans of walls and the platform altered without the government being told.