HK$50mn Kwun Tong musical fountain to go ahead

HK$50mn Kwun Tong musical fountain to go ahead

Home Affairs Secretary Lau Kong-wah on Friday made clear that the government will press ahead with a controversial musical fountain project in Kwun Tong, despite opposition by newly elected district councillors.



The Kwun Tong District Council, which is now dominated by the pro-democracy camp, passed a motion at its first meeting to suspend the HK$50 million project.



Speaking after a meeting where councillors – although most of the newcomers stayed away – Lau said the project has already been tendered out after rounds of discussion by the members of the previous council. Its funding request has also been approved by the Legislative Council, said Lau.



The official said the new district councillors have four years ahead of them and they are welcome to propose other new projects during their term.



Referring to the truncated meeting boycotted by most of the 479 new councillors, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said he was disappointed by the turnout.



But Cheung said he still found the two-hour meeting was useful.



"These 40 members were very active. In fact, 20 of them had the chance to speak up and speak their heart, their mind. And we did answer them fully and satisfactorily," said Cheung.



"So it was a very useful, productive, I would say fertile exchange in the first place," said Cheung.



He added that it was a good start for dialogue between the government and district council representatives and that the government will keep up its efforts.