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Phila Siu

Hong Kong should change its water import deal with the mainland, replacing the current fixed lump-sum arrangement with one based on actual consumption, according to local lawmakers who think the city is splashing out too much under the present agreement.
Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan said on Monday that the HK$4 billion or so that the Hong Kong government is paying Guangdong every year for a guaranteed volume of water is both expensive and excessive.
“This definitely has to be changed. It’s an unfair agreement,” Wong said on an RTHK programme.

Under a three-year deal with Guangdong – which supplies 80 per cent of Hong Kong’s water – the import price has climbed 20 per cent from previous years to HK$13.4 billion in total. The agreement will expire later this year.
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The sum is for a guaranteed Dongjiang water supply of 820 million cubic metres a year.
But Wong said that Hong Kong used only about 75 per cent of the guaranteed supply last year. In most years, Wong said, only 80 per cent was used.
“The lump-sum payment is for the guaranteed water supply of 820 million cubic metres a year. No matter how much you use, you are paying for this fixed amount. But in reality, do we really need that much water? In the past 10 years, there was only one year when we used up to some 90 per cent of the guaranteed water supply,” she said.
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She added that it was “unfair” that Shenzhen was paying less than HK$1 per cubic metre of Dongjiang water while Hong Kong was paying about five times that amount.
Dr Lo Wai-kwok, an engineering sector lawmaker, had a different view. He said the mainland authorities could consider charging Hong Kong a lower lump sum for a smaller guaranteed water supply.
Once the actual water imports went above that guaranteed level, he said, the mainland could charge the city according to the actual usage.
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Lo also elaborated on his own experience with a limited water supply. “When I was a child, in around 1963, there was only water for four hours every four days,” he said. The first delivery of Dongjiang water to Hong Kong was on March 1, 1965, after a severe drought that began in 1963.
Both lawmakers had just returned from a Legislative Council visit to the Dongjiang basin last week.
Dr Lo said on Monday that, during the tour, mainland officials said it could cost Hong Kong even more if the city is to pay by how much it uses. Wong was also told the same during the tour.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Development Eric Ma Siu-cheung said earlier that the local government would relay lawmakers’ views on the price model to the Guangdong authorities “in order to reach the best deal”.


Is Hong Kong’s HK$13.4 billion water deal with mainland China unfair?

Legislators call current agreement excessive and suggest move from lump-sum payment to consumption-based model

Lawmakers on a Legco delegation to the mainland take a boat trip to observe the Xinfengjiang Reservoir in Heyuan, Guangdong. Photo: ISD

Mainland officials ‘decline’ changes to water deal for Hong Kong

Hong Kong lawmakers visit Dongjiang. Photo: Shiu Ka-Chun

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Hong Kong economy

Legislators call current agreement excessive and suggest move from lump-sum payment to consumption-based model
