Kwai Tsing residents are angry about a planned private project to convert an industrial building in the area into a four-storey columbarium, fearing traffic in the district will increase.
A group of Democratic Party district councillors is urging the government to delay the plan's implementation until a comprehensive policy to regulate the operation of columbariums is in place.
A plan to convert an industrial building at 14-15 Yip Shing Street in Kwai Chung into a columbarium, offering some 43,500 niches, is at the centre of the dispute.
In the application filed with the government, the landlord, who bought the building for HK$48.5 million early this year, says the columbarium could start operating early next year if approval is given.
The site is about 100 metres from Shek Lei public housing estate. Yip Shing Street is a cul-de-sac and only accessible from Castle Peak Road.
The Town Planning Board has been consulting local residents and various government departments on the project.