李百怡, the former chief project manager responsible for supervising Queen Mary Hospital’s new clinical building project, left the Buildings Department in mid-August, the department confirmed. It said she had submitted her resignation three months in advance for personal reasons under the applicable mechanism.
The confirmation followed reports that she had been asked to resign over problems with the building’s lift-installation project. The Buildings Department rejected that account as inconsistent with the facts. The source of the allegation was not identified in the reports.
The new building’s lifts had experienced multiple failures requiring repairs, Ming Pao reported, preventing clinical services from beginning as planned.
The Development Bureau has begun reviewing how the case was handled, including whether the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department and the Buildings Department had shortcomings in accepting or supervising the lift project. It will also examine whether supervision arrangements for similar projects should be improved.
The Buildings Department said it would co-operate fully with the review and investigation. It said it would pursue accountability against relevant companies and individuals according to the review’s findings, whether or not they had already left their posts, and that appropriate personnel arrangements had been made to handle the current work.
The review was expected to be completed in October, after which the authorities were expected to give a full account to the relevant Legislative Council panel.