Regina Leung
6:14pm, Oct 07, 2010
Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah on Thursday appealed to legislators to be “pragmatic” in dealing with the controversial extension of the Tseung Kwan O landfill.
He made the appeal after the Environment Bureau on Wednesday announced it would defer extending the landfill site into the nearby Clearwater Bay Country Park from November 1, 2011, to January 1, 2012.
Yau said he understood that extending the landfill would be an unpopular move, but he said it was the only way to ensure proper management of waste.
“Legco needs to take a pragmatic approach and [we should] tackle the problem together,” he said.
Yau said the government’s move to extend the working date of the extension was in response to concerns expressed by the public.
Some legislators asked whether the date could even be extended [beyond January 1, 2012] so more could be done to ease concerns about the environmental impact.
Legco sub-committee chairwoman Tanya Chan Suk-chong, who plans to move a resolution to repeal Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen’s order to expand the landfill, said the government was trying to divide legislators.
"This is a political decision,” she told local media. “Some legislators – who originally supported repealing the order – now might change their stance.”
Civic Party lawmaker Ronny Tong Ka-wah said a delay of 14 months would not resolve the matter.
Some residents of the Lohas Park area, which is near the landfill site, plan to protest the extension. A spokesman for the residents said they would launch a “slow-drive” protest in the area on Sunday afternoon.
The order proposed by the Environment Protection Department will extend Tseung Kwan O landfill site into nearby Clear Water Bay Country Park by five hectares and will extend its lifespan by six years.
The move is opposed by many Hongkongers and residents of Tseung Kwan O who are worried about the environmental impact on the country park and the smell that would come from an extended site.
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