Hong Kong lawmakers have urged the government to press on with removing red tape to speed up major public projects even as development authorities push through with digitalising certain procedures to streamline the vetting process.
The Development Bureau has introduced several measures to speed up public project completions, such as adopting a one-stage procurement model to exempt consultancy firms from submitting their expression of interest, which could save up to two months.
Tests have been conducted for two digital platforms that handled material testing and contract payment, to reduce 90 per cent of time spent mailing paper-based documents.
But lawmakers on Monday said the bureau lacked concrete goals and the current paperwork and approval time remained excessive, which led to delayed procedures in some large-scale public projects, including the Northern Metropolis.
“Seven to eight years ago, we talked about the need to set up different enterprises in the Northern Metropolis,” lawmaker Duncan Chiu said at a meeting of a subcommittee that studies the effectiveness, cost and management of public work projects.
“Now the land is ready, and the enterprises that were interested in coming to Hong Kong have already identified another site elsewhere.”
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