BPA Legco Members and members of the Construction Industry Alliance stand united in denouncing those who are prone to filibustering and urged them to resume legislative debate on funding applications for public works projects.
Since the launch of non-cooperative actions and all out filibustering tactics by some members in the Legislative Council (Legco), there has been a huge increase in the backlog of funding proposals pending approval. A direct casualty of such delays is the loss of livelihoods. The Business and Professionals Alliances for Hong Kong (BPA) today joined the Construction Industry Alliance to urge those Legco Members engaged in filibustering to stop doing so as their actions could undermine social development and people’s livelihoods across the entire economy.
The Construction Industry Alliance, comprising 15 associations across the building and construction fields, today held a joint press conference to air their grievances with the filibustering lawmakers and to express their concerns with the knock-on effects on livelihoods. The irresponsible actions of these rogue legislators will not only affect engineers and construction workers but will also have dire consequences for workers in other industries such as accounting, logistics, and electrical mechanics. All told, it is estimated that 70,000 workers could lose their jobs and the cost of construction would increase at an annual rate of HKD7 billion, which will ultimately be borne by taxpayers.
The Construction Industry Alliance marched to LegCo to submit its petition. BPA Chairman Mr Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen (first left), BPA Vice Chairman Dr Lo Wai-kwok (second left), Vice Chairman Mr Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung (second right) and Secretary General Mr Abraham Shek Lai-him (first right) gave their full support to the Alliance’s anti-filibuster protest.
BPA Legco Members who attended the press conference expressed support for the Alliance’s petition. Dr Lo Wai-kwok, BPA Vice Chairman, pointed out that of the 89 projects submitted to the Legco’s Finance Committee this year 21 of these concern ‘old’ projects held over from last year. “The filibustering Legco Members are abusing the Rules of Procedure to delay deliberations and this could have far-reaching implications on all walks of lives,” he said. He added that the construction industry was united today to deliver a strong and clear message in the hopes of putting a stop to the damaging actions by filibustering legislators.
Mr Abraham Shek Lai-him, BPA Secretary-General and Legco member of the Real Estate and Construction Constituency, said the construction industry was not the only victim of filibustering as the general public would feel the pinch as well. “Delays with public works projects will only weaken the competitiveness of Hong Kong and will surely harm our economic development.” He emphasized that Legco Members should refrain from filibustering so that economic development could resume as usual.
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