Hong Kong minister vows to give public account on Queen Mary Hospital lifts saga
Hong Kong’s development minister has pledged to give a public account of whether her bureau failed to properly oversee faulty lift installations at Queen Mary Hospital’s new block, but has stopped short of confirming whether a new accountability system for heads of departments will be invoked to probe the saga. Nearly two weeks after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu tasked the Development Bureau…
Hong Kong's Development Minister Bernadette Linn Hon-ho has promised to provide a public account of the faulty lift installations at Queen Mary Hospital's new clinical block, which has left 24 out of 28 lifts inoperable. Despite Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu instructing the Development Bureau to submit a report within a month, Linn has not yet confirmed if the Heads of Departments Accountability System will be used to probe the incident.
The Development Bureau, which was not originally involved in the Queen Mary Hospital project, has now launched an investigation to determine if departmental staff fulfilled their responsibilities during various stages of the project. Li Pak-yee, a chief project manager for the Architectural Services Department, has resigned over the scandal, though the department denies it was a forced resignation.
The installation defects have delayed the hospital's full commissioning by up to a year, sparking concerns about project oversight and civil service accountability. Linn also addressed the government's decision not to appeal a court ruling that overturned the environmental approval for a housing project on part of a golf course in Fanling, stating that they need to reevaluate the remaining environmental impact assessment procedures and other factors before deciding the site's future use.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post - Hong Kong's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
