Funding requests face tough crowd when Legco Finance Committee meeting resumes
Waste projects will be top of the pile when Finance Committee meeting resumes
Waste infrastructure projects will top the agenda when the Legco Finance Committee meeting resumes on Friday, but pan-democrats are expected to stall proceedings as they vent their anger over the government's crackdown on democracy protesters.
The committee has 18 funding requests to get through that were delayed by filibustering before the summer break. At the top of the pile are what environment officials say are essential and urgent waste projects - two landfill extensions and a waste incinerator, and a feasibility study to expand another rubbish tip.
Also on the agenda is the civil service pay adjustment, the proposed technology bureau, and new marine police vessels.
Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing will have the first challenge - to convince lawmakers to fund an organic waste treatment plant in Siu Ho Wan, Lantau. Discussion of that project has been on hold since the last meeting before the break.
Democratic Party lawmaker Wu Chi-wai said the plant was less controversial than other waste projects and more likely to get approval. But he said the pan-democrats would exercise due diligence when it came to the landfill and incinerator plans.
"We won't let these proposals through easily. We will raise questions if we think these questions are necessary," he said.
The total cost estimate for waste infrastructure projects has been revised up by about HK$1.3 billion - to HK$30.4 billion in total - since the summer break.
Pan-democrats have vowed to be uncooperative with the government and some have threatened to filibuster non-urgent issues because of the police's use of tear gas to disperse Occupy protesters on September 28.
One green activist feared the waste projects could be the first funding casualty over the row. Frances Yeung Hoi-shan, of Friends of the Earth, said: "Society has lost faith in the government. There is no trust. The big question is not just whether these projects are approved, but what sort of future role the government will play."
The Legislative Council will resume its meeting today after a week's delay due to the protests. Lawmakers will make their own way to the Admiralty complex, where the sit-in continues, but a coach will transport them out when the meeting ends at 8pm - two hours earlier than usual.
