Warning on projects after 1997
A LEADING member of China's working panel for the post-1997 Hong Kong government yesterday warned that the projects which straddle the change-over would be affected if the Government insisted on going it alone on the electoral arrangements.
Leung Chun-ying, the Hong Kong co-convenor of the political sub-group of the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC), said the tabling of the partial electoral bill had ended negotiations.
Asked if projects like the Chek Lap Kok airport and Container Terminal No 9 would be affected, Mr Leung said: ''It will be unrealistic to expect the Chinese Government to bend over backwards over such major issues, particularly issues touching on the transfer of sovereignty in the run-up to 1997.'' Mr Leung said the PWC would certainly start working on suggestions for the formation of the first legislature.
''If there was an agreement between China and Britain, the PWC would not have to speed up its pace,'' he said.
Mr Leung refused to speculate on the final outcome of the electoral bill, adding that it was too early to say whether the PWC would consider that when formulating its proposals for the Preparatory Committee for the Special Administrative Region government in 1996.
The district boards and municipal councils would also be discussed.
