Sth Asian illegal immigrants targeting Lantau

Police have detained nine South Asian men who came ashore in the remote village of Sham Wat, south-west Lantau, last week.

The nine, including two from Afghanistan, had flown legally to Guangzhou, where they had hired a snakehead to bring them to Hong Kong.

Local residents called police after they found none of the men could speak Cantonese. One of them had asked in English for a cab to go to “the city,” Oriental Daily News reported.

Of the nine men, five were from Pakistan and two were from Bangladesh. All had passports. Continue reading →

Sea change in Taiwan, no change in Beijing

There’s a lot to like about the Taiwan election. It concluded once again without incident and resulted in the first woman president and the first complete transfer of power to an opposition party.

Taiwan_Flag_clip_art_hightThe number ‘689’ – toxic for Beijing – also made another appearance. Tsai Yingwen polled 6.89 million votes, or 56.1%; in 2012 Ma also attracted 6.89 million. ‘689’ has been CY Leung’s derisive nickname since receiving that number of votes in the 2012 CE poll.

Beijing’s response was typically guarded. Whereas Tsai praised her “admirable opponents,” China’s official statements declined to congratulate her or the Taiwan people or to make reference to the milestone of an ethnic Chinese woman being elected to high office (the last woman to lead a Chinese community was Empress Wu Zetian in the eighth century). This is routine for Beijing, though odd anywhere else. Continue reading →

Lantau’s transport future: Back to the boat?

Until the 1950s, the only way to get around Lantau, apart from walking, was by sea. Now, even with the looming spectre of a bridge to Central, water-borne transport could be making a comeback.

The LanDAC work report suggests expanding ferry services around Lantau, with new piers at Tong Fuk, Shui Hau, Fan Lau and Sunny Bay. Services would also run to the Sokos Islands, Tai O, Sham Wat, Sha Lo Wan and Tung Chung.

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Continue reading →

LanDAC: Develop Lantau, but conserve the airport and Macau bridge

In its final work report LanDAC, the government’s Lantau advisory committee, urges stronger conservation protection, but proposes new road and rail links through a country park and affirms support for the massive East Lantau Metropolis (ELM) plan.

The committee offers no support for protecting the island’s threatened wetlands, its buffalo and cattle herds or the shrinking Chinese white dolphin population. Incredibly, however, among those items it does regard as worthy of conservation are the airport, Ngong Ping 360 and the yet-to-be-completed Hong Kong-Macau Bridge. These are significant for “landscape conservation,” the report says.

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Heritage item

Continue reading →

Here come the blue taxis

More blue taxis could be hitting the Lantau roads as early as April.

The Transport Dept issued a tender for an extra 25 Lantau taxi plates on December 18, potentially increasing the stretched local fleet by 50%.

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Local taxi numbers last increased in 1997,when ten new licences were issued as Chek Lap Kok Airport began operation.

Since then Disney and Ngong Ping 360 have opened, tourist numbers have increased fivefold and the populations of both Tung Chung and South Lantau have expanded significantly.

Continue reading →

CEDD seeks $72m for Mui Wo parking

The government is seeking HK$72.3 million from Legco to provide more parking spaces in Mui Wo.

It is also considering using the grounds of the shuttered Mui Wo Heung Yee Kuk Secondary School as a short-term parking solution.

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The upgrade would increase capacity of the car park from 70 to 188 spaces, the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) said in a paper to the Legco Public Works Committee. Continue reading →

Contentious Lantau development body ends first term

The Lantau Development Advisory Committee (LanDAC), the developer-friendly advisory body responsible for ideas such as the end of the closed road, extending Ngong Ping 360 and filling in Shek Pik reservoir, has reached the end of its first term.

The current committee held its final meeting Monday and is now preparing a report to the government. The committee will continue its work, but its membership is unclear.

Yesterday’s meeting spent time on transport infrastructure, Apple Daily reports. Some members argued that if the East Lantau Metropolis (ELM) is built in the waters off Mui Wo, providing road and rail connections direct to Hong Kong island, then the MTR also be extended on the north coast to connect to Tuen Mun and the New Territories, complementing the Chek Lap Kok-Tuen Mun road link now under construction. Continue reading →

Fast broadband is arriving, slowly

High-speed internet via fibre connections to the home is on its way to South Lantau – but not from PCCW.

Local firm Top Express, which specialises in building infrastructure such as telecom networks and electricity grids, has invited residents of Mui Wo villages Tai Tei Tong, Luk Tei Tong and Pak Ngan Hang to register for the home broadband service. The company says it plans to cover all Mui Wo villages, with service to start as soon as May.

The broadband service will be delivered by Top Express partner HGC, part of the Hutchison Telecom Group, delivering bandwidth of 1 Gbps for both download and upload.

Elsewhere on Lantau, fast broadband has arrived at Ham Tin, but not with fibre. Residents now have access to 100Mbps downstream using vectoring technology over PCCW’s copper network.

Optical fibre is in place in Cheung Sha to service current residents and the new White Sands project, but has not yet been activated.

PCCW has developed an internal plan to build fibre networks to most households on the four outlying islands, but it has yet to be approved.  Lantau Confidential has reached out to PCCW for comment.

UPDATE: PCCW says the Ham Tin “speed upgrade project,” providing up to 100M/30M for download/upload, is a pilot program and it is considering further trials elsewhere. “The response from these pilot programs will provide some insight for our future planning,” the company said in an email.

‘5 star’ camping at Pui O

The Pui O beach camping ground is still being used as a cheap hotel for mainland visitors, a Ming Pao report reveals.

The normally-tranquil seaside campsite was the scene of a minor riot during October ‘Golden Week’ three years ago after being overwhelmed by mainlanders seeking low-cost accommodation. The site had been promoted on mainland travel forums as a free hotel.

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Pui O BBQ area

 

The Leisure and Cultural Services Dept has since put down rules giving Hong Kongers priority in camping areas during key period such as Chinese New Year and the October holiday. But a Ming Pao reporter on the trail over the Christmas holiday period found obvious examples of abuse. Continue reading →

Lantau’s rising political star

Lantau has never bred a major political leader, but Holden Chow, a rising star in the pro-Beijing camp, could be the first. Holden

The 37-year-old DAB vice-chairman, who was elected to Tung Chung South in November District Council poll, is making a tilt at the Legco seat vacated by former Civic Party member Ronnie Tong. As SCMP puts it, the by-election “is widely seen as a showdown between the pan-democracy and pro-Beijing camps.”

Chow is also tipped to contest the LegCo ‘super seat’, likely in September, with backing from Regina Ip’s New People’s Party.

Chow, a solicitor, is often sought out by English-speaking and foreign media for his views. In an interview with the New York Times on the Hong Kong democratic reform bill last year he said China was “going her own way.”

Like it or not, this is the reality and China has to go on her own way. Also, I believe that if all of a sudden China carried out democratic elections tomorrow, that may create a lot of consequences, too. It is something that is very realistic, and I am a very pragmatic person. You have these ideals, good, but you also have to strike a balance with reality.