http://thestandard.com.hk/news_print.asp?art_id=164228&sid=45753842
The Town Planning Board is being accused of violating its own rules by not properly informing interested parties about dates when the pros and cons concerning the construction of a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport will be heard.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
The Town Planning Board is being accused of violating its own rules by not properly informing interested parties about dates when the pros and cons concerning the construction of a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport will be heard.
Green Sense chief executive Roy Tam Hoi-pong said 99 percent of the 12,000 submissions received by the board were against the construction, but only 200 representatives were at a hearing yesterday because of how the board handled invitations.
Tam said the board had sent e-mails to interested parties asking if they were available this month without giving any dates. So only 200 replied and were informed of yesterday’s meeting.
“Not only is the Town Planning Board acting as a rubber-stamp authority,” Tam said. “It now seems to have adopted administrative hegemony.” That led to him writing to the board yesterday, asking it to think again on opportunities for people to present their views. A failure to do so could lead to action such as seeking a judicial review.
But board chairman Michael Wong said a legal consultant had cleared the arrangement, though some people were unhappy about meetings on weekdays as they could not take time off work.
Wong said others had demanded improvements in the way meetings were held as “they might have to wait for a whole day before they could speak.”
Also yesterday, Civic Party members against the HK$140 billion runway protested outside the meeting venue, the board’s North Point offices.
Legislator Kwok Ka-ki said it was wrong to push on with plans when problems such as air-traffic control and financing were unresolved.
The board has amended the Chek Lap Kok outline zoning plan and defined parts of a reclamation as an “airport service area.” The board is now carrying out public consultation on the plan with four hearings this month and in January. JANE CHEUNG