The Development Bureau wrote on Facebook that there are opinions that the artificial island in the central waters, also known as "Tomorrow's Lantau", has a high chance of overspending. As a whole, the total expenditure of these projects accounts for 90% of the total approved budget, and the actual balance of the total budget is about 18 billion yuan.
Ning Hanhao said that the promotion of the Kau Yi Chau artificial island project will bring huge social and economic benefits to Hong Kong (Development Bureau website)
Wu Yonghui wrote an article referring to large-scale infrastructure overspending in the past 20 years
Wu Yonghui, spokesman for the development policy of the Democratic Party and urban planner, published an article in "Ming Pao" yesterday (12th), pointing out that in the past 20 years, large-scale infrastructure projects have exceeded the budget by 25% to 60%. %, the cost may exceed 700 billion yuan.
In addition, Lin Chaoying, the former director of the Observatory, wrote an article in "Ming Pao" on January 1, pointing out that reclamation violates the new era guiding ideology of the "Constitution" "towards a new era of ecological civilization and building a beautiful China", and the State Council has also issued the "State Council on Strengthening the Protection of Coastal Wetlands - Notice on Strictly Controlling Sea Reclamation, which prohibits sea reclamation except for "major national strategic projects", and believes that Hong Kong should not violate national conditions and reclamation.
The Development Committee of the Legislative Council held a meeting earlier to discuss the "Lantau Tomorrow" artificial island proposal.
(File photo/Photo by Liang Pengwei)
The Development Bureau wrote an article on Facebook today (13th), pointing out that the "Notice" of the State Council does not cover Hong Kong, and also pointing out that according to the "Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance", the reclamation project has no insurmountable problems in terms of water quality, ecology, fisheries, etc. question.
As for the allegation that there is a high chance of overspending, the Development Bureau believes that the research on the Kau Yi Chau artificial island project is still in progress and has not sought approval for funding for the project at this stage. The opinion that there is a high chance of overspending is unfounded.
It is said that within 10 years, the additional appropriation of individual projects still has a balance overall
The Development Bureau stated that it is unfair to make assumptions based on individual past examples and ignore the performance of capital works projects in overall financial management. In the 10 legislative years, a total of 535 Class A construction projects have completed their final settlement. The total original approved budget was about 169 billion yuan, and the total expenditure for the final settlement was about 151 billion yuan. 90%.
According to the Development Bureau, although there are individual projects that require additional funding from the Finance Committee, the surplus of other projects is sufficient to make up for the additional funding for overspending projects, and there is still a balance of about 18 billion yuan.
Ning Hanhao: The unit area of the island may set a lower limit Not all public funds will pay for the artificial island of Lantau tomorrow, the cost will approach 600 billion. Yip Lau Shu-yee questioned the cost as "unreasonable"
