Priscilla Leung Defends 30 Hours on Northern Metropolis Bill
Bastillepost · 1 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
Legislative Council member Priscilla Leung Mei-fun (梁美芬), who chaired the Bills Committee on the Northern Metropolis Development Bill, pushed back after reports said some lawmakers felt the scrutiny process had been overly intensive and longer than expected. She said the committee’s 12 meetings and more than 30 hours of discussion were not excessive for legislation covering a development area of about 30,000 hectares and a future population of more than 2.5 million. Leung argued that the bill touches on 17 existing ordinances, five pieces of subsidiary legislation in draft form, notices and technical memoranda, making careful line-by-line examination necessary. She also said comments suggesting the committee had been “too serious” were unfair to members who had participated conscientiously throughout the process
Key Points
- The Bills Committee completed scrutiny on Tuesday after 12 meetings lasting more than 30 hours, amid reports that some members found the process unexpectedly long
- Leung said the Northern Metropolis covers about one-third of Hong Kong, around 30,000 hectares, and is planned to accommodate more than 2.5 million people
- She said the bill involves 17 existing ordinances, including the District Councils Ordinance, New Territories Ordinance and Public Order Ordinance, plus five draft subsidiary laws
- According to Leung, roughly one-third of the committee’s total time was taken up by government responses, leaving the remaining time to be shared among 15 members
- She said the government had proposed more than 20 amendments after members’ comments, including accepting repeated requests to table a schedule of corporate bodies before LegCo
Why It Matters
The exchange underscores how politically important and legally intricate the Northern Metropolis framework is for Hong Kong, with lawmakers debating not only policy direction but also the standard of legislative scrutiny. It also suggests that the bill’s eventual passage, which Leung said the government hopes to secure between late October and November, will shape how major development laws are examined in future