'Scumbags' v 'lackeys' - why sport is losing out as politicians argue over Kai Tak stadium plans
As insults fly in Legislative Council, sports community's wish for new facility continues to be frustrated by those who brand it a white elephant
Is it a white elephant or a vital piece of infrastructure to maintain Hong Kong's status as "Asia's World City"?
Essentially those are the arguments about the long-delayed and controversial Kai Tak Multi-Purpose Sports Complex (MPSC) project, which took another blow in recent weeks.
As the government defends the plan, the minutes of a May 6 meeting of the public works subcommittee of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council illustrate - in sometimes graphic detail - the depth of opposition to the plans in some quarters.
Lawmakers branded each other "lackeys" and "scumbags" as they fought over plans to approve HK$62.7 million to enable pre-construction work to begin.
Twenty-one voted for the funding and 14 against, among them Albert Chan Wai-yip, of pan-democratic party People Power. "The site for developing the proposed MPSC should be used for providing residential units," he insisted.
The sports community breathed a sigh of relief when he was voted down - although the funding still has not been formally approved, since it was taken off the agenda at a box-ticking meeting of the Finance Committee, with the government worried pan-democrat filibustering would delay approval of funding on another item on the agenda.
