Chopper rescue on Lantau mountain

A rescue helicopter plucked a 64-year-old man off a mountainside at Kau Nga Ling after he fell more than 30 metres yesterday afternoon.

The man, surnamed Lam, was fortunate that his fall was blocked by a tree.

Because of fears that the helicopter downdraft could blow him off the steep slope, it took the Government Flying Service team nearly two hours to complete the rescue, HKET reported.

The man had head wounds and multiple bruises, but was conscious when rescued. He was flown to Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan.

Tai O chief calls for end to Lantau closed road

The head of the Tai O Rural Committee has called on the Transport Department to lift all vehicle restrictions for South Lantau.

In a written question ahead of next Monday’s Islands District Council meeting, Lou Cheuk-wing argues that now the government has ruled out a direct Tung Chung-Tai O link, it should open up South Lantau to all traffic.

This would allow “Lantau residents and all Hong Kong people to bring their vehicles without having to apply for a permit. Free movement between Tung Chung and southwest Lantau would bring convenience for city residents,” Lou said.

His request will almost certainly be rejected out of hand because of the limitations of the road network. Rural committee leaders have been pressing for the upgrade of South Lantau Road into a standard highway to support the unrestricted flow of vehicles onto the island. The Transport Department eased permit rules last January, allowing 25 private cars and 40 tourist coaches daily.

Last May 60 residents blocked Keung Shan Rd near Tai O to protest the danger posed by the growing traffic on the narrow, winding road.

The government rejected the Tung Chung-Tai O road, which has been under discussion on and off for 30 years, because of the cost and impact on the sensitive coastal environment.

Mui Wo home prices set to soar, says CBRE

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Mui Wo property prices are set to rise sharply, a senior Hong Kong real estate figure predicts.

Kam Hung-yu, a Hong Kong managing director at global estate giant CBRE and a former president of of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, predicts a major hike in residential valuations.

Writing in the Economic Journal he says the Housing Authority will start selling its new Mui Wo apartments in August. Mui Wo prices currently are at around $7000-$8000 psf, but after subsidies this will fall to as low as HK$5000.

“Some Hong Kong people believe the location is not attractive because it is too far [from the city],” he wrote. But he says citizens who qualify for the HA ‘green form’ subsidy should genuinely consider it. “This most likely is a housing market with very strong potential to rise in value,” he wrote. Continue reading →

Truck owner fined $6000 over Pui O waste dumping

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Pui O (file photo)

In yet another failed attempt to protect Hong Kong’s environmental assets, a truck owner has been fined just HK$6000 over the dumping of waste in Pui O.

The owner, who has not been identified, was convicted over not revealing the name of the driver.

Under the Waste Disposal Ordinance, the offence of not providing information without reasonable cause carries a penalty of up to HK$100,000 – 15 times the fine levied by the Eastern Magistrates Court on Monday. Continue reading →

Lantau taxi fares up again

Lantau taxi fares are on the rise once more. From April 9, the flagfall charge will be hiked 11.7% and the incremental charge 7%.

Under the new rates, approved by the Transport & Housing Bureau and endorsed Tuesday by the chief executive in council, the flagfall will increase from $HK17 to HK$19 and the incremental charge – for every 200m – will rise from HK$1.40 to HK$1.50.

Hong Kong and New Territories cab fares will also increase by HK$2 per flagfall. In the initial application last April, Lantau drivers had sought to increase the flagfall by HK$4, Apple Daily reported.

In the last price rise in December 2013, the blue taxi flagfall was hiked from HK$15 to HK$17 and the red taxi from HK$20 to HK$22.

Continue reading →

The end of the liberal democratic experiment

This is how it ends.

Like the fall of the Soviet Union, the liberal democratic order collapsed noiselessly in an afternoon. Western democracies, unlike the USSR, might stagger on but they lack confidence and influence. Leaders and citizens no longer believe in their system and are turning inwards. The quasi-liberal democratic global order will gradually be subsumed by rules imposed by Beijing and its allies.

In any case the era of US world leadership is over. The new president might wield hard power but will carry little authority, even should he be interested in influencing events.

We are on the downward trajectory of one of the great human experiments. The USA was founded as an Enlightenment project: a human-centred, reason-based social order with institutions that restrain the powerful and protect individual rights. Continue reading →

Think tank endorses ELM, hopes Lantau will somehow stay green

A classic case of cognitive dissonance: a think tank calls for preservation of South Lantau’s natural heritage, yet also urges construction of the East Lantau Metropolis (ELM).

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All roads to ELM run through Silvermine Bay

A report by Tung Chee-wah’s Our Hong Kong Foundation on the city’s land supply says Hong Kong has had no major land development for more than a decade and the focus now should be on Lantau.

Like the government-appointed LanDAC commitee, it’s an enthusiast about Lantau’s economic potential because of its location at the centre of the Pearl River Delta.

Continue reading →

Eddie Chu wins in landslide, warns of violence to come

Conservation and pro-democracy candidate Eddie Chu Hoi-dick has become the biggest election story after winning a seat with a record number of votes and warning of “a storm” of violence in rural Hong Kong.

Chu, 38, a former Ming Pao journalist, topped the poll for NT West, which runs from South Lantau north to the Shenzhen border, with 82,000 votes – a record for any single candidate. He campaigned on a platform of Heung Yee Kuk reform, Hong Kong self-determination and conservation, including opposition to the East Lantau Metropolis.

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Eddie Chu at his media conference this morning

Chu broke down in tears briefly at a press conference this morning after thanking his supporters and family. He  said he was followed on the last day of the election campaign by a car that he was told belonged to a Yuen Long landlord. Continue reading →

Here come the mountain bikes

It’s taken a decade but Lantau’s mountain bike trails are getting their long-promised upgrade.                                 

The CEDD has just issued a HK$7.1m contract to build a training track at Lai Chi Yuen village above Mui Wo – the second phase of a HK$42m project to improve local mountain bike trails.

The first phase, due to complete at the end of 2016, involves maintaining the existing Chi Ma Wan trail and the Pui O-Shek Pik and Shek Pik-Kau Ling Chung catchwater paths.

The works reflect an apparent enthusiasm for cycling on the part of Development Bureau Secretary Paul Chan, who is also pushing ahead with the 82-km east-west NT bike track.

The Hong Kong Mountain Bike Association (HKMBA), which has been consulting with the CEDD during the process, welcomes the two phases, but points out they are for beginner and intermediate riders.

“We are still talking, still advocating. We are only focusing on Chi Ma Wan and Mui Wo at the moment,” said Nick Dover, director of trail development.

Notably, the biggest part of the trail, the catchwater path, is not a mountain bike trail at all. By definition a mountain bike track is organic, with natural features and curves and nothing man-made.

The projects have taken a long time to come to fruition. The original consultancy was carried out by engineering firm Scott Wilson on behalf of CEDD, from 2004-09. Those findings were shelved until, with Lantau development on the agenda, Paul Chan took them up.

Safety railings

For phase 1, design and planning are complete and Bristol-based Architrail will begin maintenance work on the existing Chi Ma Wan trail next month. The catchwater paths also need some upgrade, in particular the installation of safety railings all the way along. That will certainly be welcomed by Lantau cattle-lovers and dog owners.

The phase 2 works just announced provide for construction of a training track in an old quarry at Lai Chi Yuen with two connecting paths to the Chi Ma Wan trail. It is set for completion in mid-2019.

Dover acknowledged the HKMBA was slightly anxious about working with the CEDD on these projects. The association had worked closely with AFCD on the Tai Mo Shan trails and enjoyed a good relationship with the department. The CEDD, which ordinarily deals with large public works, is more bureaucratic and commercially-minded, Dover said.

“We’re still a bit hesitant about how this will work out,” he said. “At the same time there might be a lot of different departments who might object to these things.”

He said it was difficult to predict how many riders would come to Lantau to use the trails. Right now about 100-200 people a day visit Tai Mo Shan on weekend.

But for bike riders Lantau is an impressive destination, combining mountain paths and stunning ocean views not far from the city or the airport.

“We believe Lantau has all the ingredients for a sustainable mountain bike destination. It’s fantastic – people are so surprised when they get out to Hong Kong and into the country parks.”

Election ’16: The rural party line

More roads for Lantau, relocation of cattle, improved sewerage works, expansion of Mui Wo tourism.

If those seem familiar they should. They are the demands of South Lantau rural committees, so it is no surprise they should be the main planks of Leung Che-cheung’s Lantau platform.

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Leung, the sitting member for New Territories West, is a prominent Heung Yee Kuk politician as well as top of one of the DAB lists for NT West. The kuk is pro-government but not necessarily pro-DAB. Lau Wong-fat was a member of the Liberal Party for some years, and in recent years kuk leaders have canvassed setting up their own party (that would be a milestone; they already have their own LegCo seat). Continue reading →