CY Leung promises to look into public housing controversy after phone call with Eddie Chu

Office of chief executive confirms they spoke and that other officials would follow up interdepartmental issues raised

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Chu with his supporters in Wan Chai on Sunday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 3:00pm, 11 Sep 2016Updated: 8:37am, 12 Sep 2016

Hundreds of Hongkongers gathered in solidarity with Eddie Chu Hoi-dick outside police headquarters on Sunday as the newly elected lawmaker facing death threats said the city’s leader had promised to look into a controversial public housing project.

The phone call from Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Saturday came after Chu, a veteran activist who had for years taken on vested interests over land rights in New Territories, faced escalated death threats since bagging 84,121 votes in the Legislative Council elections last Sunday.

At a rally against political violence organised by Christian groups and attended by hundreds outside police headquarters in Admiralty on Sunday Chu said he raised three issues with Leung in a seven-minute conversation.

He said he asked Leung to explain to the public why the government would abandon a public housing project at a Wang Chau brownfield site in Yuen Long – which could have provided 17,000 flats – and instead opted for a scaled-down version with only 4,000 flats in another site where three villages are now located.

Rural landlords strongly opposed the Wang Chau plan. It is understood the police, who since Thursday had offered Chu 24-hour protection, were investigating whether a rural strongman with triad connections was behind the death threats.

“[Leung] said he would instruct Paul Chan Mo-po to look into the case,” Chu said, adding he would meet the development minister this week with other lawmakers specialising in land issues.

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