SCMP
Howard Winn

The government is steamrollering through its plan for a super incinerator on the island of Shek Kwu Chau despite widespread objections to the location and the technology it is to use. At an estimated HK$13 billion, it is going to be one of the world’s most expensive waste disposal units.

The decision has not been formally taken, but dredging has already started at Shek Kwu Chau. So much for the government’s respect for due process.

The other site the government said it was considering was Tsang Tsui near the landfill site. However, this site falls within the ever-so-charming Heung Yee Kuk’s “sphere of influence”. Kuk leader Lau Wong- fat sits on the Executive Council and, more importantly, is capable of delivering votes. As a result, much of the New Territories is virtually a no-go area for the administration. Witness, for example, its torpidity in dealing with illegal structures and the small house policy.

The technical grounds as to why the government should consider alternatives to the incinerator were well set out in a recent letter to the South China Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news) . It says the technology is old and Hong Kong would be better served by using plasma arc incinerators, which are cheaper and more effective, producing less air pollution.

The government is under the illusion that its proposed super incinerator is both clean and beautiful and will become a tourist attraction. But when asked why this attraction wasn’t being built in Central, the response from a government official was that it wouldn’t get past the air quality objectives. Once again, the health of the people in Hong Kong is being put at risk by the narrow political ends of the government.

Much easier to ignore the NGOs and objections from Cheung Chau and South Lantau than deal with hordes of revolting Heung Yee Kuk.

Will Secretary of Environment Edward Yau Tang-wah be as vocal on this issue as he has been on electricity tariffs? Strangely, we predict a deafening silence on this.