An advocacy group that has fought to protect Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour for nearly 30 years has announced its disbandment more than two months after the government amended a law which the organisation said may pave the way for large-scale reclamation.
The Society for Protection of the Harbour said on Friday that it had ceased operations the day before, after the Legislative Council approved changes to the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance in May.
“Our society is aiming to protect the harbour under its legal basis, but that has disappeared with the legal amendment,” said Winston Chu Ka-sun, the group’s founder and vice-chairman. “I am not sure about the future of the harbour.”
The 85-year-old lawyer said that it was now in the hands of the younger generation and the public to continue efforts to push for the harbour’s protection.
He added that winding-up procedures were going on and were expected to continue for the next few months.
Chu also specifically thanked former chief executives Tung Chee-hwa and Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor for providing support to protect the harbour.
Chairman Lok Kung-chin said that the society had consulted a few lawyers on ways to protect the harbour but they believed that they no longer had the ability to do so in the same way as before.
Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho previously said the government often faced “soft resistance” when planning projects and amending the harbour ordinance. But she did not name any specific group.
The bureau previously rejected comments on the ordinance by the group, a leading voice against the amendment, saying they were inconsistent with the facts.
Chu dismissed suggestions that the society’s disbandment was related to the “soft resistance” comment, saying members had decided more than a year ago on the move.
“She has misunderstood us,” he said, adding that Linn lacked knowledge about the work the society had done before she took up the post in 2022.
“How can we stage soft resistance? We are following the government’s own plans,” Chu said, adding that the group did not disagree with reclamation projects that were in the public’s interest.
In a reply to the Post, the Development Bureau said that it had noted the disbandment and expressed its gratitude to the society.
The bureau said the ordinance amendment would reinforce the regulation of large-scale reclamation. But the bureau did not comment on the issue of “soft resistance”.
Chu founded the society in 1995 to protect the harbour against excessive reclamation, leading to the enactment of the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance in 1997.
The existing legal regime bans reclamation in Victoria Harbour unless the government proves to a court that a project has an “overriding public need” and is supported by “cogent and convincing materials”.
But in May, the ordinance was amended to allow projects involving small-scale reclamation of no more than 0.8 hectares (1.97 acres), including the construction of structures for harbour enhancement, such as piers, boardwalks and moorings.
The new mechanism allows the chief executive and his advisers to decide if large-scale reclamation projects in Victoria Harbour can proceed.
Vincent Ng Wing-shun, former chairman of the Harbourfront Commission, acknowledged the society’s contribution to protecting the harbour.
”No organisation can last forever,” he said, describing the society’s departure as quitting while it was ahead.
Ng said the harbour was still being protected under the ordinance. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
