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Rev Fung Chi-wood (through interpreter): Mr President, with regard to the Strategic Sewage Disposal Scheme, the Chinese officials and the Hong Kong officials have been arguing over the Scheme and the Governor said that some people are politicising this issue but the Chinese officials denied that.
Now my question to the Governor is, how does the Governor come to the conclusion that some people are politicising the issue? Does the problem arise because the Hong Kong Government does not prepare adequate information and therefore fails to convince the Chinese authorities?
Governor: Perhaps I can politely correct one thing which the Honourable Member said at the outset. We're not arguing over the Scheme; we're implementing it. The Scheme has two distinct parts. There is the high priority part one, which involves the collection of the sewage and polluted waste water. It involves the separation of sewage from ordinary storm water and it involves having collected the sewage and polluted water primary treatment and disposal. Now that programme would be necessary whatever you then went on to do. The decisions you take on the first part of the Scheme don't, in any way, constrain the ways in which you can build for the future by either producing a long-sea outfall or by secondary or tertiary treatment of what's been collected on Stonecutters. What's even more to the point or what is as much to the point is that we complete part one and pay for part one before 30th June, 1997. We're therefore very happy to explain to PRC officials in the greatest detail how part one, how stage one will operate but we're intent on getting on with it and that's what's happening. We've let I think 17 contracts so far, 14 of which, I believe I'm correct in saying, have been won by Hong Kong firms or by local firms and it's important, not least bearing in mind the health problems that we faced last Summer, the cholera problems that we faced, it's important to get on with cleaning up the waters in the harbour as part one of the Scheme will do. We're discharging 1.5 cubic metres of polluted water into the harbour at the moment and we've got to stop doing that.
Stage two is different. Stage two is different for a couple of reasons. First of all because it's going to be implemented after 1997 and it raises issues in which those who are concerned about the responsibilities of the SAR Government and its challenges naturally concern themselves. It's also different because one of the options which has been proposed for stage two involves a long-sea outfall which would discharge primarily treated sewage into Chinese waters. So for both those reasons it's wholly legitimate for Chinese officials to raise questions and for us to try to engage in a dialogue and try to find agreement on how to deal with stage two of the strategy.