Jake's View | Funding must be front and centre in debate on third runway
With HK$200b at stake, it is absurd to separate cost from any decision on a project that would clog our airport with subsidised minor airlines
“Other questions remain over the runway – not least how it will be funded”
City, September 3
It may not be the least of these questions, but it certainly was the last in our report of how government environmental advisers now seem ready to approve construction of a third runway at Chek Lap Kok.
I have said it before and I shall say it again. In this debate, the white dolphin is a red herring, a cynical ploy by airport and airline lobbyists for the third runway to divert the debate to an area of contention where they know they can win.
I do not dismiss white dolphins. My daughter worked for a period as an organiser of boat tours to see them on the north Lantau shoreline. I went on the tour once and was delighted to watch their frolics.
But the lobbyists always knew that they would eventually offer some concession, such as the tiny marine park they now propose, and the government's environmental advisers could then honourably accept defeat and walk away, as it appears they now have done.