HK government fails to pass controversial landfill extension proposals

The Hong Kong government has failed to obtain funding for its controversial proposals to extend two landfills after lawmakers on Friday deferred indefinitely a debate on them.

At Friday’s finance committee meeting, lawmakers in the Legislative Council narrowly passed the motions to halt a debate, soon after it started, on the government’s funding requests for the Tuen Mun and Ta Kwu Ling landfill extension projects.

The two motions to stop the debate were passed by 32 to 28 and 31 to 29. Both motions had been raised by Liberal Party’s James Tien Pei-chun.

Friday’s developments mean that all three of the government’s landfill extension proposals have failed to pass in Legco. Officials had earlier withdrawn a proposal to extend the Tseung Kwan O dump due to strong objections in the area.

The two funding proposals defeated on Friday involved HK$35 million intended to launch a feasibility study to expand the Tuen Mun landfill and HK$7 billion to begin the landfill extension project at the Ta Kwu Ling site.

The government can retable the three proposals no earlier than October when the summer recess ends.