Henry Tang's offer to seal unauthorised basement rejected

The buildings chief has rejected a suggestion by failed chief executive candidate Henry Tang Ying-yen that he seal his huge unauthorised basement with a brick wall - a proposal seen as a barb aimed at Tang's successful rival, Leung Chun-ying.

"We would only accept proposals that would make it very hard [for owners] to re-enter the sealed space," Director of Buildings Au Choi-kai told legislators yesterday. "Building a brick wall is just unacceptable."

Tang said on Friday that he had formally suggested to the department that he should wall off the 2,250 sq ft basement, which was discovered during his election campaign last February and used as an issue by Leung.

Leung admitted after the election that he had built a brick wall to seal a smaller, 320 sq ft illegal basement of his own at around the same time he announced his candidacy.

At a meeting of the Legislative Council's development panel yesterday that discussed whether preferential treatment was given to Leung, Au said building a wall was unacceptable for both Leung and Tang.

Options to seal the space included filling it with soil or building structural frames inside to make it unusable. Au added that Leung had submitted a proposal to fill in a space below his car park, which the department had accepted. The work had been completed and was awaiting inspection by the department, Au said, without referring to the 320 sq ft basement.