“For the Tai Wai-Hung Hom section, we could meet the opening target in the third quarter of this year, as our preparation work for the opening of this section has been going smoothly,” he said.

“As for the Hung Hom-Admiralty section, due to various reasons we face many challenges in meeting the commissioning target at the first quarter of 2022. We are now taking various measures to catch up with the schedule, such as a flexible arrangement of work procedures and deployment of more manpower.”

But pro-establishment lawmaker and former Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun suggested it was virtually impossible that timeline could be met.

“No one will believe you can meet the target of the first quarter of next year for opening the Hung Hom-Admiralty section. Even a three-year-old kid won’t believe you,” Tien said. “Can you say whether you can launch this section in the second quarter of 2022?”

The most recent setback to the project was the eleventh-hour cancellation of the launch of a new signalling system for the connecting East Rail Line last September due to possible route-setting glitches.

The original plan had been to roll out shorter trains on the line – made up of nine carriages rather than the current 12 – in conjunction with the new signalling system to ensure the line conformed to platform designs for the Sha Tin-Central link.

MTR stations to close on select Sundays as costliest rail project nears completion

The rail giant received a report in December on the signalling fiasco from an investigative panel, and said it was now conducting tests on the new system and would submit a report to the government in due course.

But lawmakers on Friday said they believed the Sha Tin-Central link was set to suffer further delays, while also chiding the MTR Corp for what they characterised as its evasive attitude.

Wilson Or Chong-shing, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), noted the months-long delay over the signalling system, and asked whether the on-time opening of Hung Hom-Admiralty section was now out of reach.

“Does the government need to see if this is unacceptable?” he pointedly asked.

Chow, however, was non-committal about the opening date for the cross-harbour section, only saying they would update the public in due course.

Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, vice-chairwoman of the pro-Beijing Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, said she was “really disappointed at the MTR Corp”.

“Your answers have been very abstract,” she added. “This is unacceptable.”

Ben Chan Han-pan, also of DAB, questioned whether the MTR Corp was hiding something, as localist lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai asked whether the government was really only made aware of the route-setting glitches at the last minute.

“The route-setting glitches were discovered by the MTR Corp staff in May, but the government still approved the launch of the new signalling system in September. Had the government been informed of the glitches in May?” Cheng asked.

No more MTR blunders and setbacks? Hong Kong rail giant launches review

Sharon Yip Lee Hang-yee, deputy secretary for transport and housing, said they only became aware of the glitches after being approached by the media for comment on September 10, two days before the system was slated to launch.

The first section of the link – phase one of the new Tuen Ma Line connecting Wu Kai Sha to Kai Tak by way of Tai Wai, Hin Keng and Diamond Hill – opened in February last year.

The Tai Wai-Hung Hom section was expected to open in the middle of 2019 after an earlier target of December 2018 was pushed back due to construction problems.

That has since been further delayed to late 2021 due to reinforcement works at Hung Hom station, where shoddy work was revealed by a whistle-blower.

The opening of the cross-harbour section between Hung Hom and Admiralty, has also been pushed back before.

Separately, in another Legco meeting, transport minister Frank Chan Fan said the government would request an extra HK$1.5 billion to pay for the construction of the main span of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, which opened in 2018.

In 2009, Legco approved HK$9 billion to cover the city’s share of the construction of the main bridge. However, in 2017 the bridge authority reported an overrun of more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion), with the three participating governments required to split the cost.

Chan said the extra HK$1.5 billion was needed to settle the account. Revenue generated from the bridge was expected to pay off the loan taken out to build it, he added.

“So I think there’s no need for further government subsidies in the future,” he said.

He also said the government could roll out more measures to expand income from the mega bridge, such as converting the artificial islands along its span for tourism purposes. “Right now, the Zhuhai government has been coordinating the relevant planning for the Eastern artificial island. I believe Hong Kong’s tourism sector could participate in the planning work,” he said.