Opponents of a multibillion-dollar high-speed rail line claimed victory yesterday after pan-democrat lawmakers succeeded in delaying the expected funding of the controversial project.
That means construction of the HK$66.9 billion Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Shenzhen Express Link cannot begin before the end of this year, as scheduled.
Lawmakers from the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats were cheered by about 1,000 students, activists and villagers after they stepped out from the Legislative Council's finance committee meeting at 7pm.
We must continue to fight in the next meeting, Wong Yuk-man of the League of Social Democrats told the crowd.
The committee will resume discussions on January 8.
Yesterday's meeting was scheduled to last for four hours from 3pm, but the actual discussion on the project's funding did not begin until 6pm, as Ronnie Tong Ka-wah of the Civic Party said the committee must first address the issue of legislators' declarations of interest.
Some lawmakers are paid directors of companies that have publicly declared their interests in this project. Isn't it a conflict of interest for them to vote? he said.
Raymond Ho Chung-tai, a non-executive director of China State Construction International Holdings, a subsidiary of which has expressed interest in bidding for the project, withdrew from chairing a public works subcommittee meeting that determined whether the project should be recommended to the Finance Committee for voting. Abraham Razack, a non-executive director of the MTR Corporation, was on sick leave. But Tong said the pair had voted in other meetings, which may have caused unfair decisions on the project - such as banning his suggestion of setting up an independent task force to study an alternative route that could halve the cost. Tong demanded that the meeting be suspended for the government to study that option.
Legco's legal adviser said decisions made in other meetings had no bearing on the finance committee, and Ho's and Razack's interest in the project did not add up to direct monetary gain. The committee rejected Tong's motion to suspend the meeting by 27-23.
Leung Kwok-hung of the League of Social Democrats then demanded more discussion concerning lawmakers' conflicts of interest, but it was again banned by the committee.
By then three hours had passed and the meeting had to be adjourned as there was not enough time left for discussion of the funding.
Pan Pey-chyou of the Federation of Trade Unions said the public was tired of such arguments. Some lawmakers [picked] on every point in a bid to delay the project. What is the meaning of such behaviour?
But Tong denied it was a delaying tactic, saying they genuinely questioned the effectiveness of the project. Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng said the government would try to answer all their questions, but any further delay could result in the project costing more. A senior government official said last night the administration was determined to build the line. It will delay, but not change, things, the official said.
Trains will begin running on the 26 kilometre Hong Kong section three years after the national high-speed rail network is completed in 2013.
Legco has discussed the project's route and location of the terminus for 10 years. A local expert group, Professional Commons, proposed another option two months ago, after the project's cost jumped by nearly half because of a surge in the cost of construction material.
After yesterday's meeting, hundreds of activists and protesters celebrated their victory with pan-democrat lawmakers, though no Democratic Party members showed up for the celebration.
Before the start of the meeting, the activists staged a rally outside Legco in a final attempt to block funding approval for the railway. Among them were Tsoi Yuen Tsuen villagers and residents of Tai Kok Tsui whose homes would be affected by the rail link. But most were students.
Chan Ping-fung, a final-year student at Chinese University, is one of the core members of a group of young people opposed to the rail link.
There are students, teachers, artists and people from all walks of life, she said. It is the first time for us to ally different social groups to stand against this very expensive project.

Ellen Wong, a Form Six student who joined the protest, said: It is unreasonable to build a rail link using such a huge amount of public money. It is not right.

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