Hong Kong officials withdraw funding requests for 14 top government jobs, saving HK$29 million a year

Positions with responsibility for railway safety, waste reduction and recycling initiatives, and boosting land supply among the jobs withdrawn

Environmental activists accuse government of withdrawing funding requests from Legco committee so massive Lantau project can move up agenda

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Nine green groups in Hong Kong are urging the government to withdraw its Lantau Tomorrow Vision project. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 9:36pm, 26 Nov 2020Updated: 12:11pm, 27 Nov 2020

Fourteen proposed directorate-level jobs costing HK$29 million a year in wages have been dropped for now after the Hong Kong government withdrew the funding requests from the legislature to save public coffers, official records show.

Positions with responsibility for railway safety, waste reduction and recycling initiatives, and boosting land supply were among the jobs withdrawn from the agenda ahead of the Legislative Council Finance Committee’s meeting on Friday.

The withdrawals mean the next item on the committee’s agenda is a HK$550 million funding request for a preliminary study into the Lantau Tomorrow Vision. This is a 1,700-hectare project to build a new metropolis on man-made islands in waters off Lantau Island which will cost about HK$624 billion.

Patrick Nip (centre) said the government had considered lawmakers’ views and the current economic situation. Photo: Felix Wong

Activists from nine environmental groups including Greenpeace and Green Power issued a petition letter on Thursday, accusing the government of withdrawing the funding requests for the jobs to pave the way for the Lantau project.

“The ecosystem in the area will be damaged,” said Kate Lin Pui-yi, Greenpeace Hong Kong’s senior campaigner.