BICKERING bureaucrats are holding up a proposed cable car linking the airport to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island.
The plan was announced a year ago, and the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) expected to begin construction this year. But that now seems unlikely, since officials disagree on how to handle the project.
Transport chiefs are terrified of taking responsibility for it. The fear is that if they introduce a bill to permit this, the democratic camp will amend it to impose controls on all MTR fares, something it has been trying to do for years.
So the issue has been sent back to government lawyers in the desperate hope of finding some way to build the cable car without fresh legislation. But that is not the only problem.
No one can agree how to allocate land for the terminus. The District Lands Office has objected, and the Po Lin Monastery, site of the Big Buddha, is demanding improved land rights.
All this has left the MTRC kicking its heels. 'Everything has to be decided by the Government,' a spokesman said. 'We have submitted the feasibility study and are waiting for a response.' Conspiracy theories abound over last week's surprise proposals from the Finance Bureau to raise government fees and charges.
One idea, floated by unnamed sources in the Chinese press, was that officials were trying to divert attention from the anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.
