The foundations of a key part of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge have shifted again, the Highways Dept has revealed.

As many as 22 steel cylinders installed to stabilise reclaimed land for the bridge landing zone have shifted more than three metres, according to the Oriental Daily.

The Highways Dept and the contracting company have consolidated the cylinders – accounting for more than a quarter of the total – but have been unable to fix the source of the movement.

It is the latest in a series of engineering issues at the project, including shifting foundations, the collapse of a seawall and the falsification of tests on the concrete used in the bridge. Accidents have killed six workers and injured dozens, putting the project back by a year, experts have said.

The continual shifting of the foundations of the reclamation have prompted concerns that the project will be further delayed.

The 55-km bridge, originally intended to open last year, is currently scheduled to open by the end of 2017.

The ICAC has arrested 21 people suspected of involvement in faking test results for concrete supplied to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge project.

The anti-graft agency said today it had detained two senior executives, 14 lab technicians and five lab assistants of a contractor to the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD).

It said  had launched operation Greenfield last Tuesday to investigate a corruption complaint from the CEDD.

It was revealed that when some of the tests were not conducted within the set time frame in compliance with the contract requirements, the site laboratory technicians and laboratory assistants might have adjusted the times on the testing machines to cover up the irregularities.

During the ICAC operation, it was further revealed that some of the laboratory staff might have replaced the concrete samples by using a metal calibration cylinder and/or high strength concrete cubes to falsify the tests, so that the tests would appear to have been conducted properly. It was suspected that the above malpractice might have started in early 2015.

Two senior site laboratory technicians had certified the false test reports, and “might have corruptly connived at the submission of the false reports to the CEDD,” the ICAC said.

It said the contractor had been carrying out tests for the CEDD since 2013. The 21 staff have all been released on bail pending further inquiries.

Raymond KS Chan, a former head of Geotechnical Engineering Office, has said that if use of the fake concrete was widespread, affected sections of the bridge would have to be rebuilt.

Development Secretary Eric Ma said today officials would review the bridge construction to see if any improvements were needed, SCMP.com reports.

“If the situation is not that serious, reviewing the existing construction is already enough. Otherwise we will take serious measures and follow up actions. But I do not have any information in hands now,” Ma said.

In yet another failure at the HK$90 billion HK-Macau bridge project, it’s been revealed hackers attacked a server used by one of the contractors and locked up key files with ransomware.

Some of the files were destroyed in the attack, which took place at the site office of consultant engineers Arup Group in early March. The Arup team was working on the final bridge link to Scenic Hill on the south-east end of Chek Lap Kok island.

Staff discovered many files on the server could not be opened and received a ransom demand from hackers in order to open the files. The server had a large number of project-related material, including progress reports and blueprints that if stolen or destroyed could harm the progress of the project, Oriental Daily reported today.

The company feared that personal information belonging to a thousand employees who had worked on the project over the past five years, including their IDs and bank account details, had been compromised in the attack.

But the Highways Dept, which acknowledged the incident took place on March 2, said staff personal information had not been stored on the server.

After calling in police, the company was able to unlock a number of the ransomed files.  A Highways Dept spokesperson confirmed that a number of files had been destroyed, but said no data had been leaked in the attack.

The department was unable to say how much the attack had cost the project. It said the hack did not hinder progress of the bridge construction, which was still on course to open by the end of the year.

The computer breach is the latest in a series of incidents that have plagued the seven-year-old project, that include delays, cost overruns, the deaths of nine workers and hundreds of injuries.

Yet another engineering failure, resulting in a massive mud spill, has been revealed at the scandal-plagued Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge (HZMB).

The Highways Dept only yesterday acknowledged the collapse, at the southeast end of Chek Lap Kok, more than two years after the event.

Newspaper HK01 reported Monday that the failure released tonnes of mud into Tung Chung Bay, creating a brown slick.  It published satellite photos from Google and the Lands Dept showing the discoloured water.

The paper and Civic Party law-makers have accused the Highways Dept of covering up the accident, the latest in a series of incidents in the HK$130 billion project. Continue reading →