Officials confirmed during a Legislative Council meeting that some 210 test samples of the multibillion-dollar Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge were suspected to have been falsified.
LegCo convened a special transport panel on Monday to investigate the construction scandal, during which Director of Highways Daniel Chung said 210 samples (out of 170,000 which were taken) at 203 locations could have been falsified by a contractor. A total of 159 affected samples are at stress-critical locations, of which 10 of which are in buildings, 29 are in tunnels, 28 are on the bridge, 45 are in pillars either underwater or on land, and 47 are in “other structures”.
Chung stressed that the allegedly falsified samples only comprised a small fraction of the 170,000 which were taken.
Both Chung and Lam Sai-hung, director of Civil Engineering and Development, confirmed that their respective departments have employed an independent construction agency to determine areas of the bridge that may warrant more stress-testing. The directors warned the government to proceed carefully on future safety inspections, stating that overly frequent and improperly conducted tests may compromise the bridge’s structural integrity.
During the panel meeting, the Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung said that he was not informed of the alleged malpractice until last month, when the ICAC arrested 21 people in relation to the scandal. Cheung was criticized by lawmaker Michael Tien for awarding government contracts to the contractor involved in the scandal, Jacobs China.
Last month, ICAC arrested 21 Jacobs China employees of varying seniority for submitting falsified concrete compression test reports last month. The anti-graft body alleged that Jacobs employees had replaced some test subjects with stronger materials to meet requirements, and also concealed the fact that some tests had been conducted outside of specified time frames.
Jacobs China conducted internal investigations when samples were discovered to be altered but reportedly failed to mention to the CEDD that samples had been replaced by metal calibration cylinder or high strength concrete cubes to meet strength requirements. Upon investigating the matter, the ICAC said it suspected Jacobs had been replacing sample subjects since 2015. The anti-graft agency said the “misleading” reports were submitted to the CEDD to cover up the alleged malpractice.
The Hong Kong part of the construction project has cost over HKD110 billion, and has been plagued with delays, worker fatalities, and complaints since construction began in 2011.
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