Lawmakers Back Plan For Legco To Reach New Heights

Lawmakers on Monday gave their backing to a government proposal to expand the Legislative Council complex, to accommodate more members added to the body through Beijing’s electoral overhaul.

Legco will grow from 70 members to 90 following this December’s election, but the number of directly elected seats will shrink from 35 to 20.

President Andrew Leung said the price tag for the expansion is not yet known.

But work is expected to start in the middle of next year, and the three-year project will see several storeys added to the existing building.

Leung said his colleagues in a Legco Commission meeting had decided building a new wing near to the complex would be very difficult, and on-site expansion was the most cost-effective idea.

This approach means that half of the council’s members will have to find temporary offices, rather than working within the building.

"There's a real possibility that we need to rent offices for 45 members,” Leung told reporters. “However, we will look at different options... whether we can rent or whether the members do their own rental arrangements.”

He said the Legco Commission will meet again before the end of the month to discuss the options.