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Ambrose Leung

Activists use engineer's report to raise new fears of contamination at contested site

Harbour activists yesterday mounted a late effort to block the controversial Tamar development, on the eve of expected approval for the government's funding request today.

The activists distributed a two-page report written by Singapore-based engineer Michael Chu Ka-sein, the younger brother of Winston Chu Ka-sun, former chairman of the Society for Protection of the Harbour.

'As the Tamar site had been a naval basin for berthing naval vessels for over 50 years, it was inevitable that heavy fuel oil including diesel fuel would have been discharged along with the oil tank wash-water into the Tamar Basin, and the mud on the seabed would be heavily contaminated,' he wrote.

Michael Chu said he was working on a nearby project at the time the Tamar Naval Base was reclaimed.

He added: 'According to my knowledge and recollection, the sea mud at the bottom of the Tamar Basin was not dredged away before the Tamar site was reclaimed, as it should have been.'

The report, which was circulated with a cover letter signed by Society for Protection of the Harbour chairwoman Christine Loh Kung-wai and backed with another letter by chartered engineer Hardy K. C. Lok, did not provide further information to substantiate the challenges.

Mr Chu and Mr Lok did not return calls from  the South China Morning Post.

A government official last night said the allegations were 'as ridiculous as saying that there is an oilfield underneath Tamar'.

The government's administration wing said an investigation of the site in 2003 had shown the level of contaminants, including heavy metals and organic chemicals, to be low and they could be 'properly handled and disposed of according to ordinary and established land-filling procedures'.

With the vote hours away, lawmakers intending to back the project said the activists' report and earlier claims that the site was contaminated with dioxins would not make them change their minds.

A senior government source said the administration was confident that none of its allies would make last-minute U-turns, and dismissed the possibility that the latest report would have any impact on today's vote.

Three major political parties - the Democratic Party, Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong and the Liberal Party - yesterday said  they would stand firm in backing the government proposal.

Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat  said his party would not make any U-turns from its position of supporting the Tamar project, and all individual members would vote following the party line.

The Democrats released a last-minute telephone survey of 880 people, which found 51.6 per cent of the respondents in support of the Tamar project. It also defended the government's position, saying that there had been enough public participation on the project, and that earlier claims of the presence of dioxins were not based on 'reasonable scientific doubts'.

The six legislators of the Civic Party  with independent lawmakers Kwok Ka-ki, Albert Chan Wai-yip,  Leung Kwok-hung and Leung Yiu-chung have vowed to vote against the project.

Independent legislator Lau Chin-shek is undecided on his vote while Chim Pui-chung, who represents the financial services sector, earlier indicated he would abstain.

Liberal Party chairman James Tien Pei-chun  said his party would vote in support of the government. 'Every day there are new reports about dioxin or cancer-causing materials. We have a duty to make a decision now. There is nothing money cannot solve and the government can use the contingency funds in the project to clean it up later if the place is found to be really contaminated,' he said.

Mr Lee said: 'We just cannot suddenly change our minds if someone issues a new report one hour before the vote.'

The 10 legislators who oppose the project will stage a last-minute protest outside the Legislative Council building this afternoon, before the government tables its  $5.2 billion funding application.

Yesterday, the Action Group on Protection of the Harbour handed a letter to the government, urging it to launch a three-month consultation on the project and delay its funding application.



Late attempt to block Tamar plan