The Legislative Council Public Works Subcommittee (PWSC) yesterday rejected the government's proposal to fund a study for the Central Kowloon Route because the project would harm heritage protection.

The PWSC members voted 7:5 against the proposal to save the colonial Yau Ma Tei Police Station building, which is a heritage site, and other public facilities in the area.

The government submitted its proposal to the PWSC to raise the approved project estimate from HK$9.9 million to HK$192.3 million to conduct a detailed study that would have changed the original configuration from dual two-lane to dual three-lane traffic.

But many legislators opposed the plan because it would have led to the demolition of the Yau Ma Tei Police Station and shifting of the Jade Market, the public library inside the multi-storey car park building and the health clinics in the area.

Presenting his case, Director of Highways Wai Chi-sing said he needed the money to conduct a detailed study on the impacts and whether the historic buildings could be preserved.

"All I can commit today is to use the heritage preservation as a starting point," he said. "But I first need financial resources for the detailed study before preserving them in the end."

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Chan Yuen-han, however, opposed the funding, citing the Star Ferry case in which the Director of Territorial Development had given "in writing that the clock tower would be preserved" but had failed to keep his "promise".

"The government is so cold (to heritage structures) that it does not understand what heritage preservation is all about," she said. "If the government handles the projects only from the viewpoint of environmental impact, all the historic buildings will surely disappear."

The Democratic Party's James To urged the government to give priority to heritage preservation in development projects. The government will say the project has LegCo's support if we approve the funding today, he said.

Although the government claimed to have the support of the district council, legislator Frederick Fung, of the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, quoted the relevant minutes of a meeting on September 7 to say that a lot of district councillors had expressed concern over the relocation of the facilities. They had hoped the government would consult the stakeholders further, he said.

But the Liberal Party's Miriam Lau supported the funding proposal. If government is not given the money to carry out detailed studies, she said, it cannot have the necessary data and the traffic congestion would worsen if the project is delayed.

Since the government refused to withdraw the funding proposal, the matter was put to vote and was defeated after a two-and-a-half- hour meeting.