Pressure to scotch $8.5b rail projects
Pressure was mounting last night for the Government to withdraw its request to Legco tomorrow for $8.5 billion for two railway projects, including the controversial Ma On Shan link.
The money is needed to allow the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation to finance lines from Ma On Shan to Tai Wai and from Hunghom to Tsim Sha Tsui.
But yesterday legislators from across the political divide vowed to vote down the application if it is put to tomorrow's Legco Finance Committee meeting.
Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, Democratic Party deputy transport spokesman said his party would vote against the request.
He was angry officials had been reluctant to give a firm commitment for an extension line between Tai Wai and Kowloon once the Ma On Shan to Tai Wai link was completed.
'How can we throw our weight behind this funding application in its absence?' Ip Kwok-him, former legislator and vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, said his party would also vote against the request.
'I don't think it is so pressing for the Government to secure the funds now,' he said.
Mr Ip said the request should be postponed until the Government completed its second railway development study by the end of this year.
Choy So-yuk of the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance said she would also vote against.
'How can I vote otherwise when my colleagues at the district level voiced such strong opposition to it?' But alliance chairman Ambrose Lau Hong-chuen said he and the other four members would support the request.
Sha Tin Provisional District Board members, including the alliance's Choy Kam-pui, are dissatisfied with the proposal for the Ma On Shan link to end at Tai Wai, which is already a heavily used station.
But Miriam Lau Kin-yee of the Liberal Party said her party was inclined to support the Government's funding request.
