Legislators endorse HK$2b for quake rebuilding but demand monitoring
Lawmakers yesterday approved a request for HK$2 billion to kick-start a government fund to help with the cost of reconstruction in parts of Sichuan devastated by May's earthquake.
The money will cover projects such as the rebuilding of schools, hospitals and old people's homes, roads and bridges and the Wolong giant-panda reserve.
Thirty-two members of the Legislative Council's Finance Committee voted for the funding, while five Civic Party members, Emily Lau Wai-hing of The Frontier and Anson Chan Fang On-sang abstained.
While lawmakers generally supported the need to help, they questioned how the money would be spent and called for government monitoring.
Democrat Yeung Sum said there was a need for detailed regular reports by mainland authorities and the Hong Kong government.
'Once the money is poured into the mainland, there may be no monitoring. This cannot happen,' Dr Yeung said.
'Hong Kong people don't want their money to build tofu [substandard] projects.'
Albert Ho Chun-yan, chairman of the Democratic Party, said lawmakers should be given seats on the five working groups the government is setting up to co-ordinate projects.
The government says it will liaise with mainland authorities and local non-governmental organisations to identify needs in Sichuan that Hong Kong can address.
Executive councillor Bernard Chan, who is vice-chairman of the charity Oxfam's Hong Kong branch, said many non-governmental organisations had complained that their work in Sichuan had been affected since the government agreed with the provincial authorities that they would co-ordinate Hong Kong relief efforts.
Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, who heads an interdepartmental taskforce co-ordinating rebuilding, said details of projects the money would fund were still being prepared. But he said the government would ensure the money was well spent.
The government urged the public to donate to the Sichuan earthquake-relief fund through district offices and post offices.
