An advocacy group that has fought to protect Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour for 30 years may take the government to court for passing a legal amendment to relax reclamation restrictions, calling it the last-ditch effort before the organisation closes.
Winston Chu Ka-sun, founder of the Society for Protection of the Harbour, said on Saturday that the society had begun winding up procedures before a “new turn of events” from legal advisers that might push the group to remain in operation for the time being.
“However, in this new turn of events, we are advised by senior counsel that there may be a remedy through the law courts. The law courts may be able to declare that this law offends the common law,” Chu said.
The 85-year-old lawyer, who began campaigning to protect the harbour in 1995, expressed his disappointment with a legal amendment on Wednesday that allows the government to carry out small-scale and temporary reclamation works.
The legal amendment also paves the way for large-scale reclamation under a new mechanism.
The new mechanism allows the chief executive and his advisers to decide if large-scale reclamation projects at Victoria Harbour could go ahead, replacing current rules stating all reclamation at the harbour is forbidden unless proven to have an “overriding public need” supported by “cogent and convincing materials” in court.
