Kuk chief vows to block Tuen Mun landfill funds

(The Standard P.3  9 Jul 2013) Funding for the Tuen Mun landfill expansion is in danger of being rejected after the Heung Yee Kuk chief vowed to fight the plan.

Kuk lawmaker Lau Wong-fat, who is also chairman of the Tuen Mun District Council, was speaking after meeting more than 10 district councillors.

Councillors owning allegiance to the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which supports the landfill expansion, stayed away.

Lau said the government move has sparked resentment, adding he will try to persuade the required 35 legislators to vote against the proposal at Friday's Finance Committee meeting.

"I urge the government to withdraw the document and discuss thoroughly with every party of Tuen Mun district, especially the District Council. I also call on my colleagues to reject the plan with me," Lau said.

He also supports filibuster on the issue. "I think there should be filibustering," Lau said. "I have to responsibly [be a voice] for Tuen Mun residents."

Some district councillors were satisfied with a letter from environment secretary Wong Kam-sing last week, which said the government has improved measures to address traffic and environment issues around the Tuen Mun landfill.

But district councillor Kwu Hon-keung said the government is lying in order to gain lawmakers' support, while his colleague Josephine Chan Shu-ying said they will submit thousands of signatures opposing the expansion plan.

She also wondered about the need to expand the landfill by 200 hectares when the government says it will do well on waste reduction at source. Lau will convene a special Tuen Mun meeting on Thursday to discuss further action.

Engineering lawmaker Lo Wai-kwok of the Business and Professionals Alliance, which has seven votes and of which Lau is a member, said it will support the kuk chief on Friday.

If Lau and the other five alliance lawmakers vote against, the proposal may be rejected as 22 pan-democrats, the Federation of Trade Unions and New People's Party lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said they will oppose the plan.

Winnie Chong