Yesterday’s opening of the Mui Wo playground was in fact the launch of the government’s ‘public engagement’ programme.
The LanDAC website lists 15 ‘events’ over the next three months that comprise the public consultation over the future of Lantau. Of those events, 12 are information displays. Only three public forums are planned in which the public can express their views.
Engaged public at Mui Wo playground yesterday
Protestors in Mui Wo today came face to face with the government’s point man on Lantau development for the first time since the release of the controversial LanDAC report.
About 50 people marched through the streets of Mui Wo to confront Development Secretary Paul Chan as he opened the new children’s playground next to the wet market.
“Save Lantau”
The demonstrators called on the government to withdraw the LanDAC report and to keep the ban on outside vehicles from entering South Lantau. Continue reading
Industrial accidents on the Macau bridge project have killed six workers and delayed the project by more than a year, according to local news site HK01.
The Highways Dept has attributed delays to labour shortages and the uncertain supply of materials, but the rising toll of injury could be the biggest factor of all.
Source: Wikipedia
According to HK01, the project has been shut down as a result of injuries and safety issues for 439 days. As well as the six deaths, 129 workers have been injured since construction began in 2011. Continue reading
Environment Secretary Wong Kam Sing seems to be unaware of the detail of the government’s Lantau development plans.
He told an RTHK interviewer last week that he believed the plans for Lantau South were “primarily” about ecotourism, with “conservation at the core.”
“The environmental impact should be very small,” he added.
Wong did not appear to know that the LanDAC report, issued on January 8, stipulates 14 tourist hot spots around Lantau, including ten in Lantau South (Mui Wo, Tai O, Sunset Peak, Pui O, Cheung Sha, Shui Hau, Tai O Valley, Sokos, Yi O, Fan Lau). Continue reading
A group of environmental and social justice organizations say the sweeping development plans for Lantau violate the vision of earlier governments and will destroy the island’s character.
In a letter to be sent to Chief Executive CY Leung and other officials, they say the proposals in the LanDAC report “will destroy the rural and culture character, the local economy, the natural landscape and the habitats of Lantau.”
The say the advisory committee’s report ignores the existing 2007 Lantau Concept Plan, which stipulates that large-scale tourism and infrastructure projects should be avoided. Continue reading
A 38-year-old man died in North Lantau Hospital after being struck by a bus on Sunday morning.
The man, surnamed Ng, wascrossing Yat Tung Rd near the Tung Chung bus terminal when he was struck by the no. 34 bus and dragged underneath the vehicle, sustaining serious injuries.
Ng, who worked as a chef at Discovery Bay, was listening to music through earphones as he crossed the road, Apple Daily reported.
Police arrested the 63-year-old bus driver on suspicion of dangerous driving.
They have appealed for witnesses to contact investigating officers on 3661 1300.
A Hong Kong judge yesterday gave the go-ahead for a judicial review into the dumping of landfill onto Pui O wetlands.
The core issue is the role of the Environment Protection Department (EPD) in allowing the dumping. The EPD argued that director Annissa Wong had no choice but to let it go ahead.
The dumping has been taking place for more than year. On top of the landfill in one lot (above) the landowner has erected prefabricated huts with water and electricity supply, a septic tank, a paved terrace, outdoor seating, lighting, storage sheds and a fire pit.
Continue reading
Improving the “balance” between development and conservation has been a government priority in Lantau planning, Development Secretary Paul Chan told an interviewer this week.
In Mui Wo’s future: inflatable water toys
The LanDAC report reveals just how well that balance has been struck. The report, issued ten days ago, uses the word ‘develop’ 126 times. ‘Conservation’ appears just 20 times.
It appears that the purpose of Lantau development is development. The language is telling; we could have had a Committee for Lantau’s Future, the Lantau Sustainable Development Committee or even the Let’s Make Lantau Fabulous Committee. Continue reading
The Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society has warned that the planned marine park off North Lantau may already too late to save the local Chinese white dolphin population.
Chief Executive CY Leung confirmed in his policy agenda, issued with his policy address last week, the government was moving forward to establish the park around the Brothers Islands.
Dolphin Society chairman Samuel Hung told Apple Daily dolphins in the North Lantau waters were “nearly extinct” – only one was sighted in the area last year. Ten years ago an average of 20 or more could be seen each day.
Last year the level of dolphin activity several times fell so low that it breached levels that could have brought Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge construction to a halt.
Lantau’s Po Lin Monastery is the final resting place of the late superstar Anita Mui Yim-fung, it has been revealed.
Mui died of cervical cancer in 2003, aged 40, but the fate of her ashes has been unknown to all but a few fans, even though hundreds turn out to commemorate her birthday and the anniversary of her death each year.
A devout Buddhist, Mui’s ashes are in a columbarium at Po Lin under her milk name, Jyu Neuih (珠女), the head of Mui’s fan club told NOW TV. Continue reading
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