Co-location Bill 'could Have Been Given More Time'

Liberal Party leader and legislator Felix Chung said on Saturday that Legco President Andrew Leung could have allowed lawmakers more time to discuss the controversial Express Rail co-location bill, which was passed by the council on Thursday.

On Friday, pro-democracy lawmakers said they had planned a motion of no confidence against Leung, accusing him of bulldozing the bill through Legco by putting a cap on the debate time and throwing out more than 50 amendments from them.

Leung also barred legislators, who had been evicted on Wednesday, from rejoining the meeting the following day.

Chung said while the pro-establishment camp does not support the no confidence motion, he agrees that Leung could have been more lenient towards the councillors.

"I believe that he should have given another maybe eight hours for everybody to express their views," he said.

Civic Party leader and lawmaker Alvin Yeung said the debate over Leung's performance will put pressure on him even though there was little or no chance of the motion being passed.

"It is an open debate where members could openly discuss and criticise Andrew Leung's performance over the past two weeks," he said.

"[It] will create a certain degree of pressure on him so that he would know in future he will not be able to do whatever he wants. He has to stick to the rules and the procedures," Yeung added.

Both Chung and Yeung were speaking after attending an RTHK programme.

The co-location bill allows part of the Express Rail terminus at West Kowloon to become mainland territory for customs purposes. The pan-democrats have said this is against the Basic Law. The SAR government has said the arrangement is legal and has pointed to a similar one at Shenzhen Bay Port, where there is a Hong Kong customs post on mainland territory.