Elect to Protect Victoria Harbour on 12th September
The protection and preservation of Victoria Harbour is an extremely important social and environmental issue for Hong Kong. In response to the forthcoming September Legislative Council Elections, the Society for Protection of the Harbour (SPH) has decided to conduct a 'Vote For The Harbour' Campaign and is asking its supporters and the Hong Kong public to cast their vote for the Harbour. SPH will also undertake a signature campaign such that the community can show their concern for and support of the Harbour.
As part of its "Vote for the Harbour" Campaign, SPH has contacted all the candidates and political parties participating in the upcoming LegCo elections to include "protection of the Harbour" as part of their election platform. Responses show that most candidates support the protection of Victoria Harbour. The details of their responses are set out in the enclosed report and are being circulated to our supporters.
86% Candidates support Harbour protection and preservation
Of the 159 candidates running for election, 101 (64%) have responded to SPH's survey. Among the Geographical Constituencies, 66 out of the 88 candidates (75%) have responded. Of these candidates, 57 (more than 86%) have agreed to include protection of the Harbour in their election platform. Another 8 (12%) of the candidates also support Harbour protection, but for various reasons could not include such a statement in their election platform. 22 candidates (25 %) did not make any response out of the total samples.
However, the response from the Functional Constituencies candidates was quite low. Only 35 out of 71 candidates (49%) responded. Of those who replied, 18 (51 %) agreed to include protection of Victoria Harbour in their election platform.
7 political parties out of 11 including most of the leading political parties have pledged their support of protection of the Harbour or promised to include protecting and preserving the Harbour in their election platform. Given such favourable response, Harbour protection should be a much more important issue in future LegCo considerations and hopefully will receive overwhelming support.
The Harbour is still in danger: it is not the time to relax
SPH Chairperson Christine Loh Kung-wai said: "The results show that the LegCo candidates understand the importance of addressing the issues concerning Victoria Harbour and are keen to preserve the Harbour. Our Society will scrutinize the planning of the Central Reclamation (III) and also the forthcoming Wanchai Reclamation. We hope that in the future, the Government will accept that the Harbour belongs to the people of Hong Kong and not developers."
The Former Chairman of SPH, Mr. Winston Chu Ka-sun also said: "Victoria Harbour is the most valuable natural asset of Hong Kong. The public should not think that the work in protecting the Harbour has been completed. Apart from the on-going Central Reclamation of 23 hectares, the Government has gazetted reclamation projects totalling 584 hectares which are to be reclaimed from the Harbour. The Government can decide to proceed with these gazetted reclamation projects at any time."
SPH has posted in full the survey results on their website: www.harbourprotection.org. SPH urge the public to vote for those political parties and candidates who have pledged to protect the Harbour; and to monitor those candidates elected to LegCo to ensure that they will keep their promise to protect the harbour.
Enquiries: please contact the SPH Campaign Manager, Mr Angus Ho (Tel. 3101 8191).