Category: Roads
Macau bridge could be the biggest fail of them all
Photo: James Wong (Creative Commons)
More evidence that the HK-Macau bridge is shaping to be an even bigger disaster than the other budget-busting SAR mega-projects.
Howard Winn (the former SCMP Lai See editor) reports that in the rush to get the project completed the Highways Department has been cutting corners. It’s been trying to construct the border crossing on reclaimed land that is not yet ready for construction.
“The problem is that once again Hong Kong has allowed itself to be bullied into building this too quickly”, said one experienced engineering consultant. In the past Hong Kong has left reclaimed land to settle for between 5-15 years before building on it. “The problem with the [border crossing] is that it hasn’t been left long enough and it is still settling.” Engineers are still considering what do about the problem.
The case against opening S. Lantau roads
For a well-reasoned case on the problems of adding more traffic to South Lantau, read the Living Islands Movement (LIM) submission to the Transport Department.
The paper, published on its website, makes a series of points that have not been publicly addressed by the Transport Department.
For starters, it warns traffic is already growing quickly as a result of increased residential development and that police resources are stretched managing the existing vehicle volume. It reminds that the 2007 Lantau plan concluded that the area was not suitable for mass tourism and that in any case the main tourist sites at Ngong Ping and Tai O appear to be operating at close to capacity. Continue reading
So much for consultation
Protest at road opening plan, July 19
Remote as Lantau may seem, you get a sharp view of the workings of Hong Kong. The dysfunction, the cronyism, the inability to grasp people’s needs – all reveal themselves in microcosm.
So when the Transport Department pre-empts the outcome of its consultation on opening South Lantau roads, that’s an issue for Lantauistas, but it also tells a tale that is reflected across the entire city.
Following a public outcry after the department’s plan to allow an extra 80 vehicles per day was made public, it consented last month to take submissions from community groups. Continue reading
A short history of Lantau roads
Lantau might have some of Hong Kong’s oldest settled communities, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that modern roads came to the island.
Historically Lantau people were seafarers and farmers who lived on or near the coast. Any contact between villages was by sampan or mountain path.
That was true long after the island came under British control.
In 1950 a colonial district officer, Austin Coates, advised that a road connecting the southern coastal villages Mui Wo, Pui O and Shek Pik was “urgently needed.” Continue reading
Govt plan to open S. Lantau roads to non-residents
Here comes the flood. The Transport Department is planning to open up South Lantau roads to 50 non-resident vehicles and an extra 20 tourist coaches each weekday. According to this story in Sing Tao Daily on Monday, the department said it had come up with the proposal after “reassessing” the current closed road policy.
It doesn’t say what specifically was reassessed. But the government and its developer-centric advisory committee have made clear their determination to overturn decades of conservation and traffic management policies in their pursuit of a vision of “Lantau development” based on mass tourism. The 50-car limit seems to be a trial balloon. Continue reading
Closed road holding Lantau back: LanDAC
Lantau’s transport system is imploding: buses, ferries, taxis, roads and carparks are at breaking point on most days and are overwhelmed on public holidays.
But LanDAC, the government advisory committee comprised mainly of developers and tourism execs has decided Lantau’s problem is not enough visitors. They have recommended opening up South Lantau to all vehicles; the Transport Department is currently studying it.
Lantau Confidential 