Govt plan to open S. Lantau roads to non-residents

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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 →

New police chief targets speedsters

The new Lantau South police chief, an ex-traffic cop, has made road safety one of his priorities. Among other things, he’s considering putting plainclothes police on NLB buses and cracking down on drivers without Lantau road permits. As reported, he’s not a fan of opening up South Lantau’s roads to more cars.

More details here at the LBA blog.

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.

Continue reading →

Top five reasons why LegCo should reject ‘reform’

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Here’s why lawmakers should vote down the bill today.

1. It doesn’t make any difference

The bill merely codifies current practice for an enlarged voter group. If 2012 were run on the new rules we’d still have CY Leung, a crony of Beijing, vs Henry Tang, a crony of the cronies. It’s an exercise in screening out those who would put the needs of Hong Kong people ahead of the CCP and makes no difference to the governance of Hong Kong.

Continue reading →

Broadband outliers

Cable- CopyIt’s a 30-minute ferry ride from Central to Mui Wo, but the digital divide between Lantau and the rest of Hong Kong is much broader.

The average broadband downlink on Lantau and other Hong Kong islands is somewhere south of 7 Mbps. That’s not even a tenth of the city’s average download rate of 84.6 Mbps; the actual rate in fact is probably closer to one-twentieth. The 7 Mbps is the theoretical maximum on the PCCW service and is so far below the notion of acceptable broadband to the rest of Hong Kong that the company doesn’t even list it on its website.

It’s no surprise why this is so, PCCW-HKT is a de facto monopoly on Hong Kong’s outlying islands, where it is not viable for any other broadband company to build a network. Both HGC and HKBN and have assured me of that.

The telecoms sector traditionally deals with this through a universal service obligation (USO), which guarantees provision of uneconomic but essential services. Hong Kong actually has a USO, but it just covers voice. Basic telephony is simple – you either have a working phone or you don’t.

But broadband isn’t just broadband. You can get HKBN’s 1Gbps symmetric service for HK$476, and PCCW’s minimum published rate is 100 Mbps for $598. Then there is the service delivered to residents of South Lantau and the other islands. Continue reading →

Transport Dept keeps ‘open mind’ on Lantau taxis

Here’s a story about the Transport Department.

When several government agencies and NGOs met in the wake of the deaths of eight cattle on Lantau 18 months ago, the TD sent an official who claimed to be so new that he didn’t have any business cards. Not only could he refrain from taking a position or making any contribution to the discussion, he smartly avoided any possible follow-up.

Here’s another story. The Transport Dept has not issued a single taxi licence in the history of the SAR.

Here’s another. When I interviewed the TD via email early last year about Lantau taxis, their spokesperson said: “We are collecting data to assess the level of taxi services in Lantau Island and will be open-minded on whether to issue additional taxi licences.”

Now, according to the Sun newspaper, the department has finally acknowledged that the blue taxi waiting time is “longer” in peak periods.

Indeed, under prodding from LanDAC, theTD has said it surveyed the Lantau taxi service last year and is now considering whether or not to issue new licences on the basis of “established policy.”

Presumably that is the established policy not to issue any licences at all.

But the department has encouraging words to the LanDAC members who suggested issuing ten ‘trial’ taxi licences.

“We’re keeping an open mind.”

Trashing the wetlands, with a little help from the EPD

The Environmental Protection Dept has taken time out from authoring the destruction of Shek Kwu Chau to trashing the Pui O wetlands.

The EPD has given the go-ahead for a series of construction waste dumpings on the wetlands. Local residents have logged eight incidents of dumping in recent weeks. Like this one.

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Continue reading →

Hong Kong crazy is all too clear from here

The onset of Occupy has meant outsiders have had to grapple with the crazy that lies in the shadow of our dazzling skyscrapers. Of course, CY Leung has done his best to make it clear, and no-one could accuse Regina Ip of not playing her part.

But from this far corner of the territory, we see it all too clearly: the pointless public works, the collusion with business, and the indifference to the environment and the community.

These come together in the current bout of Lantau development fever, sparked by the progress of the Macau bridge. When that HK$80 billion monument completes in 2016 it will be time for another boondoggle, and Leung and friends have their hearts set on an artificial island. To be precise they envisage reclamation in the waters between Lantau and Hong Kong to turn Hei Ling Chau and Kau Yi Chau into one large island over which we can drive from Mui Wo to Central.

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Teargas debacle sums up Hong Kong’s dysfunction

The deployment of riot police at Admiralty on Sunday is a fine illustration of Hong Kong’s malaise. The evidence is that this single decision, more than any amount of urging from Occupy or Scholarism, drove people onto the streets.

By 1am, the riot police were withdrawn. The question is: whose idea was it to put them there?

Bao Pu, the son of Bao Tong, the former secretary to Zhao Ziyang, who now lives in Hong Kong, says Beijing sources have told him police “have all sorts of plans to put down” the protests:

“Hong Kong police were prepared for the use of force; the escalating use of force is all according to the plan.”

Reportedly, Beijing authorities considered but rejected making use of Shenzhen garrison troops, but in any case under-estimated the size of the crowds. Continue reading →

‘Please don’t call me when I’m in a black mood’

Photos from Kunming.

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“Please don’t call me when I’m in a black mood”

Continue reading →