HK Govt Bungles Coming Clean on Masks

Some 2 million people have signed up to get these reusable masks

 

Over 2 million people have ordered the government issued reusable masks online, but now there is a fiasco over why the government was not more forthcoming about which companies took part in the production process, and why there was no public tender for it.

Months ago when there was a mask shortage, the Hong Kong government kept missing out on crucial shipments of surgical masks because it insisted on going through a tender process. And now it seems tendering to make 7 million masks is not necessary.

Annie Choi (left) speaking on RTHK today about the masks

What gives?

Finally today the permanent secretary for Innovation and Technology, Annie Choi Suk-han, said on an RTHK radio program that the masks were being produced by Hong Kong-based textiles company Crystal International Group Limited, which has a factory in Vietnam, as well as TAL Apparel, which has a small production line in Hong Kong.

The completed masks are then sent to a company in the Tai Po Industrial Estate where they are sterilized and packaged, and then sent to The Mills in Tsuen Wan, owned by Nan Fung Group, for storage, as well as Novetex Textiles.

Choi said officials initially didn't want to disclose the names of the companies because they didn't want to "inconvenience anyone" but did not elaborate further which raised eyebrows.

Novetex is one of the companies involved in mask production

She said Crystal International Group, which usually handles orders from Uniqlo and H&M, set aside work to handle this "special project".

"I am actually worried, as I don't know if [the manufacturer] can recover the cost," Choi said.

Is this her way of trying to get sympathy for a company that is getting a massive order? What about all those businesses that were struggling for the past six weeks because of the pandemic?  Does she feel sorry for them?

And more telling is that the masks had to be produced in Vietnam, as there is no factory in Hong Kong certified to produce these kinds of masks and could be easily exported here.

The mask was developed and patented by the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel, a government-funded non-profit, and costs around HK$800 million. Interestingly the heads of Crystal Group and TAL Apparel are HKRITA directors.

Remember when people queued for hours for masks?

 When asked why there was no public tender, Choi explained the project was done according to the government and World Trade Organization procurement guidelines.

"According to the government regulations, in case of public health emergency, we can conduct direct procurement," she said.

Again we ask -- why wasn't that measure taken a few months ago back in late January when Hongkongers were desperately looking for masks? Or the coronavirus wasn't considered a public health emergency then?