Outrage, anger as debate blocked and Legco agrees to pay extra HK$5.4b on Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge
Stormy scenes in Legco as lawmakers approve funding request after Finance Committee chairman cuts short pan-democrat filibustering
A massive HK$5.4 billion in extra funding for the controversial project to build a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai was approved last night after a stormy meeting of the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee
Pro-government committee chairman Chan Kin-por blocked pan-democrat filibustering by cutting the time for questions, leading to accusations that he had acted in an “arbitrary” manner.
Chan admitted after the vote that transport officials had failed to provide satisfactory answers to lawmakers’ questions on the project, but he said he had to cut the debate time “to strike a balance” between his colleagues’ right to ask questions and “public interest”.
“I agree the officials could have done better. I don’t have problems with the councillors grilling them,” said Chan. “But if we can’t make a decision in time, the consequence is that Hong Kong people will be paying more money.”
READ MORE: SCMP interactive multimedia special on Three Cities, One Bridge
Funding was first approved in 2011. The government says the extra money is necessary because of surging labour and material costs. The whole project estimate is now HK$35.9 billion.
Officials have also said construction will not be completed this year as scheduled because of various difficulties, including an unstable supply of materials, labour shortages, restriction in airport height and constraints brought by environmental protection requirements.
They also revealed yesterday that China Harbour Engineering Company, one of the contractors, was forbidden to bid for work contracts for one year after a 2012 hearing concluded it caused a “serious accident”.
“The chairman said he struck down some of our motions ‘for fairness’ sake’, but he didn’t explain what is fair ...”
Including yesterday, the committee has spent 22 hours debating the extra sum on five days this month. In the past week, media revelations about problems at the construction sites, including damaged materials and six workers dying in accidents, provided pan-democrats with fresh bullets to fire questions at officials in a Friday meeting.
Although lawmakers wanted to continue with their questions yesterday, the chairman confined their time to two hours.
Lee Cheuk-yan of the Labour Party accused Chan of ruling “arbitrarily”.
“The chairman said he struck down some of our motions ‘for fairness’ sake’, but he didn’t explain what is fair,” Lee said. “He is just anxious to help the government push through the project.”
Undersecretary for Transport Yau Shing-mu said after the vote that the funding was necessary to prevent a second delay in granting a work contract.
Director of Highways Peter Lau Ka-keung said that his department would verify the purported drop in the number of white dolphins, and would require contractors to repair damaged concrete slabs.
