Environmental damage from theme park project 'disregarded'

LEGISLATOR Emily Lau Wai-hing yesterday accused the Government of disregarding the environmental impact of the Disney project.

But Deputy Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands Kim Salkeld said the entertainment giant's theme park was a better environmental prospect than a container port plan for the Penny's Bay site which would have taken up more land.

Speaking at an environmental forum in the SAR, Ms Lau, of The Frontier, said: 'The Government puts too much emphasis on what the project is going to do for the economy and disregards the negative environmental impact.

'It is clear the environment will be ruined once the construction of the park has begun. And the information released so far by the Government is not enough.' Ms Lau believes more opinions should be considered before the project is pushed through.

'Some of my colleagues thought the project would definitely be approved, but I beg to differ. Green groups have condemned the project and there could be problems yet to surface,' she said.

Otto Poon, past president of the Hong Kong Engineering Institute, said the SAR's Disneyland could be better than those in the United States.