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An extra HK$19.6 billion in funding was approved for the rail link. Photo: Sam Tsang

Issue of funding for Hong Kong-Guangzhou rail link could be reopened for debate, Legco president says

Jasper Tsang Yok-sing says controversial approval of HK$19.6 billion could be revisited but only under ‘very exceptional circumstances’

Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing has said the controversial approval of the government funding application for the high-speed rail link to Guangzhou could be reopened for debate, but only under “very exceptional circumstances”.

Tsang said it would be up to Finance Committee chairman Chan Kin-por to consider whether a new debate would be worthwhile.

The Labour Party has written to Chan requesting he invoke a house rule in a bid to overturn the committee’s approval on March 11 of the HK$19.6 billion in extra funding for the rail link.

READ MORE: Uproar at Legco after snap vote leads to passage of HK$19.6 billion for Hong Kong high-speed rail link

Clause 32 of the Legislative Council’s rules of procedure allows a motion to be moved with the permission of the president to rescind a decision on a specific question previously approved. The rule also applies to Finance Committee meetings.

Tsang on Sunday said the clause should not be viewed as a fast track to overturning the result of the vote and it was only meant to reopen a debate.

“Even if we start it all over again, will there possibly be a different outcome, or just another round of filibustering and in the end a vote under a difficult situation?” Tsang said. “If the result will likely be the same, I think the chairman should consider whether it is worthwhile spending time on it.”

The extra funding was approved by the committee with acting chairman and pro-government lawmaker Chan Kam-lam at the helm, who called for a vote amid a noisy protest that saw pan-democrats leave their seats and stand around their new colleague Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu who was trying to make his point heard by using a megaphone to speak.

The pan-democrats did not vote and argued the result was void.

Labour Party legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan maintained that a new debate on the funding was needed because new ideas about co-location of a mainland border checkpoint for the rail link had been expressed by mainland law expert Professor Rao Geping after the funding was passed.

Rao, a Basic Law Committee member, said last week that having mainland officers stationed at the West Kowloon terminus to clear travellers was possible if an agreement between Hong Kong and the mainland could be reached.

But pan-democrats said such a move would contravene the “one country, two systems” principle.

Chan Kin-por said on Sunday he would consult legal advisers for the legislature on Monday about revisiting the issue.

“I am not very sure if we can actually overturn a decision on funding. The money has supposedly been paid. Workers are working on the project,” Chan said. “I am not sure how we could get it back even if we can overturn the funding approval.”

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