'Backlog Of Funding Requests Will Need To Wait'

The chairman of the Legislative Council's Finance Committee, Chan Kin-por, said on Saturday the vetting of a backlog of funding requests will probably have to wait until the new legislative year begins in October.

The committee had been due to consider more than 40 items before the summer break, including hospital expansion and pay rises for civil servants.

Chan said his committee now has nowhere to meet, after protesters stormed the Legco building on Monday. He estimated the cost of repairing the building would cost as much as HK$70 million.

"Basically it is not safe for everyone – for the Legco members, for the public, for the government officials, for the staff there," he said.

"So unless we can resolve that problem, I think it is not reasonable, or even fit at all, to have the meeting there."

Chan said they may have to wait until October and then substantially increase the number of hours the committee will meet for, so outstanding items can be cleared.

However, Democratic Party lawmaker James To said he sees no reason why the Finance Committee cannot just meet in other Legco rooms that were relatively unscathed by Monday's storming.

To questioned whether there were other motives for not wanting to hold the committee meetings within Legco.

"It's normal, we have a room, so we do it," he said. "And if those items, we believe, are not controversial, then why worry about safety, security?"