Stop filibusters so funds for projects can be approved on time, Matthew Cheung urges Hong Kong lawmakers
Acting chief executive says workers may not be paid if approval of such funds are not made before April 1
Hong Kong’s acting chief executive Matthew Cheung Kin-chung has urged lawmakers to stop filibustering, saying the process of approving funds for thousands of public projects is far behind schedule.
Cheung, who is also the city’s chief secretary, spoke ahead of a Legislative Council finance committee meeting this Friday which would discuss funding for more than 9,000 projects. Of this figure, about 8,000 are ongoing projects.
“If the approval of funding cannot be made before April 1, workers may not be paid,” Cheung told the press before attending the Executive Council’s meeting on Tuesday morning.
He said that in the past seven finance committee meetings, only five projects had been passed.
“There are only 11 sessions left. If lawmakers continue to filibuster, we will face grave challenges,” Cheung said, adding there were more than 20 issues, some related to social welfare, which have not been discussed by the committee separately.