Lai See | Shek Kwu Chau incinerator smells even before it starts

The controversial Shek Kwu Chau incinerator is due to be considered by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee today, and it may be thwarted by filibustering.

We have argued at length over the past few years that Hong Kong does not need a behemoth like this and there are alternative ways of dealing with waste that are cheaper and cleaner. But for reasons that are not entirely clear, the Environmental Protection Department remains wedded to this project and its contractor, Aecom.

The government has received offers to handle the waste free by companies that would then sell the output either in the form of electricity or aviation fuel. But they have received short shrift from the government.

People are mystified at the lack of pre-sorting of waste and effort on the government's part to commercialise recycling. Indeed, we gather that a company has offered to buy Hong Kong's waste because it believes it can make money out of processing and recycling it.

The government is unusual in that it pays cash for infrastructure rather than paying for it over the course of its useful life by borrowing or issuing bonds. This means we do not see the kind of detailed information that is provided to bankers and borrowers such as payback period, relative costs, cost benefit analysis, return on investment, and so on.

We notice that the cost of the organic waste treatment plant passed by the Finance Committee recently increased to HK$1.5 billion from HK$500 million in three years due to the difference in "broad brush" estimates and a more detailed analysis. The capital cost of the incinerator has already risen from HK$18.2 billion to HK$19.2 billion between April 16 and October 17. That is an increase of 11 per cent in less than a year. Yet the Environmental Protection Department's annual cost adjustment from this year to 2016 is in the range of 4 to 6 per cent.