Although government plans to build a monster incinerator in the environs of Shek Kwu Chau have officially been shelved, preparatory work continues.
Concerned citizens have noticed the presence of a number of vessels at work off the island. It turns out they are engaged in site investigation work involving the drilling of bore holes according to a Marine Department notice dated July 11, several months after the decision to shelve the project.
The assumption has always been that with the shelving of the project and the arrival of wiser heads at the Environmental Protection Department, it was doomed. The site investigation work would seem to indicate that we should not necessarily draw that conclusion.
Another possible conclusion is that the government is saying one thing and doing another. The incinerator saga reaches another interesting point this week with a judicial review of the environmental impact assessment of the project starting on Wednesday.
One argument likely to be raised is that there has been a failure of natural justice in approving the EIA because the Director of Environmental Protection acted both as the proposer and regulator of the project. Environmental groups have been pointing out this conflict of interest since the posts were merged in 2005.