Shui Hau tops the list as govt hands out $9m for Lantau conservation education

Shui Hau’s rich and fragile ecosystem has attracted the biggest share of funds under the government’s new Lantau environmental education scheme.

Two proposals, from WWF HK and the City University Chemistry Department, have together received HK$2.35 million under the Environmental Education & Community Action Projects funding scheme for Lantau conservation.

WWF Hong Kong received HK$1.59 million for its proposal to “promote preservation of the high ecological value of Shui Hau and to enrich ecological knowledge of intertidal mudflats.” It also proposes the creation of a code of conduct for clam diggers.

The City U team aims to “enhance public’s understanding of the ecological value of Shui Hau and human’s impacts on the ecology (especially Horseshoe Crabs).”

They are among nine projects to have attracted HK$9 million in funds, the government announced yesterday.

Other recipients include The Environmental Association, which received HK$1.56 million to help develop an augmented reality app and panoramic videos, and OIWA (Outlying Islands Women’s Association), which was awarded HK$1.3 million to run conservation education programmes for children and students.

The Environment & Conservation Fund Secretariat says it set up the Lantau fund to support the Sustainable Lantau Blueprint’s vision of balancing development and conservation.

It also earmarked another HK$10 million to education and community action conservation projects for South Lantau.

The full list of funded projects:

Brazen thieves waltzed past CCTV to burgle Cheung Sha home last night

This thief got away with HK$2,000 in cash in a brazen robbery at Cheung Sha last night.

He was one of a pair that raided a home at Golden Coast just after midnight while tenant Craig Watson slept.

One burglar kept lookout while the other entered by a door on his first-floor balcony and spent 20 minutes in the apartment, Watson said. 

The thief made a “meticulous search of all drawers and bags,” overlooking iPads and laptops in favour of the cash, Watson said.

He says CCTV footage shows they entered from the vacant scrubland between Golden Coast and Whitesands.  He said in an email to Lantau News:

judging by their speed and access used they clearly knew where they were going so had to have scoped the area out in advance. The houses adjacent to the rear wall in Golden Coast are common targets – four burglaries in two years from what I know.

… The concerning issue for me is that they knew I was inside and were similarly not worried about the CCTVs which are very obvious in and outside my home. We are reviewing our home & complex security with an expert today

Source: CCTV

The burglars also evaded the guard on the gate, who failed to see the real-time CCTV vision of them climbing over the roof into the apartment.

Watson was the only one in the house last night – his wife and daughter were away.

He said the property had been burgled two years ago, when the window was prised open and small valuables were taken.

Watson said the burglar’s face was “well-covered with a hood and surgical mask but he is otherwise quite distinguishable. Based on this and a lot of other footage he is an Asian male, 25-35yrs, approx 170cm tall & noticeably skinny.”

Another burglary took place at Luk Tei Tong, where the owner was away, about ten days ago,”probably linked” to last night’s break-in, police say.

Anyone who has information on either of these burglaries, or sees anything suspicious, please call Lantau South Division Crime Hotline on 6148 0728.

Govt to issue tenders for remote Lantau broadband

The Hong Kong government will issue tenders for the construction of fibre links to 45 Lantau villages – part of a new scheme to provide faster rural internet across Hong Kong.

Network operators will have to commit to building fibre connections to villages that will enable download speeds of at least 25 Mbps.

Within each village, residents will connect to the fibre backbone via the existing copper network using DSL technology. Currently PCCW’s combined fibre/DSL service offers downlinks of up 100Mbps.

The scheme to subsidise internet service was foreshadowed in Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s policy address last October.

It is a major departure from the government’s longstanding policy of leaving the telecom industry solely to the commercial operators.

The city is near the top of the world broadband rankings, but 170,000 people have a home or small business internet with download speed of less than 10Mbps.

The plan to bridge the city’s digital divide will not happen quickly, however.

Telecom regulator Ofca says services won’t start rolling out until 2021 at the earliest.

It will start discussions on funding with the Legco IT and Broadcasting Panel next month, the regulator said in a paper to the Islands District Council.

But it does not say how much it will seek for the subsidised rollout.

Ofca says 67 villages in the Islands District qualify for the programme.

Under the tender structure, they will be combined into six different project areas. Operators will be asked to bid on the six projects.

They will be assessed on on the speed of rollout, system design, pricing and the funding required.

According to Ofca, fibre backbones reach all of South Lantau’s major villages except Tai O

But 32 villages on South Lantau and 13 in the Tung Chung area have no fibre connections and will qualify for the scheme. They are:–

MUI WO: Man Kok Tsui, Ngau Kwu Long, Pak Mong, Tai Ho, Wang Tong, Tung Wan Tau

SOUTH LANTAU/PUI O: Mong Tung Wan, San Shek Wan, Shap Long, Tai Long Wan

TAI O: Fan Lau, Kit Hing Back St, Kit Hing St, Lower Keung Shan, Upper Keung Shan, Luk Wu, Leung Uk,Nam Tong Sun Tsuen, Ngong Ping, San Tau, Sha Lo Wan, Sham Shek, Shek Tsai Po (East & West), Tai Long Wan, Tai O Outskirts, Tai O, Yi O

TUNG CHUNG: Chek Lap Kok New Village, Lam Che, Nim Yuen, Ma Wan New Village, Ma Wan Chung, Mok Ka, Ngau Au Village, Pa Mei, Shek Lau Po, Sheung Ling Pei, Tai Po, Tei Tung Tsai, Wong Nai Uk

New double-decker bus to run on 3M route from Q3

This is the new double-decker bus that will run between Tung Chung and Mui Wo, starting in the third quarter.

New Lantao Bus Co (NLB), which released the photo this week, says the new bus can carry 88 passengers, up 40-50% from existing single-deck vehicles.

The buses are timed to come into service after residents start moving into the new HOS apartments in Mui Wo, NLB says.

The two HOS estates are expected add approximately 2,000 people to Mui Wo’s population of 5,400.

NLB has ordered ten air-conditioned low-floor vehicles to run on the 3M route.

Each bus can carry 47 passengers on the upper level and 41 seated or standing on the lower level.

The company says it ran trials in June 2016 and November 2017 – in the latter testing it out on the entire 3M journey.

The 3M is the only public transport link between Mui Wo and Tung Chung and is severely crowded during rush hour periods.

But the Transport Department (TD) says the current service has “roughly” enough capacity to support demand.

In a paper submitted to the Islands District Council last October, it said that according to a survey, hour the highest level of bus occupancy at peak hour was 81% in the Mui Wo direction and 88% in the Tung Chung direction.

The TD says the new buses will be equipped with a closed-circuit TV and a ‘black box’ so NLB can monitor the condition of the dirver and the bus operation for safety purposes.

It says fare, route and frequency on the 3M route will remain unchanged after the introduction of the double-deckers.

It is not the first time double-decker buses have run on Lantau roads.

Prior to the construction of the Tsing Ma Bridge in 1997, two-decked buses used to run between Mui Wo and Tong Fuk to carry passengers to and from the ferry pier.

Fix North Lantau traffic chaos before bridge opens, says Holden Chow

After another morning of chaos on North Lantau Highway, Legco member Holden Chow has called on the government to tackle congestion before the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge opens.

He says the bridge will bring heavy traffic to the 12km highway, the sole road link between the city and Chek Lap Kok Airport.

“If no appropriate measures we are afraid that that would cause a big problem on the North Lantau Highway,” said Chow, who also represents Tung Chung South in the Islands District Council.

Four separate accidents occurred on the road between 8am and 10am today, causing traffic to back up across the Tsing Ma and Kap Shui Mun bridges in the airport direction.

On Tuesday even Chief Executive Carrie Lam was caught in congestion after four accidents occurred in a short period on the freeway.

Chow told RTHK:

“We suggest that the government ought to launch different sorts of mechanisms, including installing different facilities to show electronic signals on different highways, including the Western Harbour Tunnel, for example, just to alert or remind the travellers in advance.”

The 55-km HZBM Bridge is still officially due to open in May, but almost certainly will be delayed to the second half of the year.

Another lawmaker has called for a review of all major roads on North Lantau and west Hong Kong after the partial closure of Lantau Link because of high winds last Friday.

Photo: Headline News

Ding Ding Gallery opens in Mui Wo

Mui Wo now has a small exhibition space – Ding Ding Art Gallery at Caffe Paradiso.

Tom Midgley, owner of the popular coffee shop, says it is open to anyone in the community who wants a space to show paintings, photos or similar items.

Dingding Gallery on the stairs

Anyone who wants to use the gallery can contact Tom at his cafe.

The small gallery in Caffee Paradiso’s stairwell is named after Tom’s late but much-loved dog – which helps explain the canine theme in many of the current paintings, which have been created by artists and members of the local community.

Bosco by Martin

Blue House by Unknown

Untitled by Carmen

Gate by Irene

Untitled by Kelly

Untitled by Clara

Man dies in fall from Yat Tung tower

A 69-year-old man died in a fall from a Yat Tung residential block yesterday.

A security guard reported a man’s body was found outside one of the tower blocks at 3pm yesterday.

He was certified dead at the North Lantau Hospital, Headline Daily reported.

The police did not find a suicide note at the scene but said there were no suspicious circumstances.

They believe that the man had fallen from a high floor. The cause of death will be confirmed by an autopsy.

Caritas Crisis Hotline: 18288

The Samaritans: 23892222

Dump body on Lantau, body-in-cement witness suggested

Lantau has entered Hong Kong’s body-in-cement court case, with the court hearing that a witness had suggested using Lantau as a place to dump a body.

Ho Ling-yu, the housemate of three men accused of murdering Cheung Man-li and encasing his body in cement, told the High Court that she had seen the defendants googling for places to hide the body, scmp.com reported.

Ho said several months before murder at their Tsuen Wan apartment in March 2016, the trio had held meetings to discuss the killing.

Ho said she saw two of them, Tsang Cheung-yan and Cheung Sin-hang, searching online on the morning of March 4, the day Cheung was allegedly killed.

When they told her they were looking for where to dispose of a body she thought they were joking.

So when Tsang asked her that day where the men should dump Cheung’s body, Ho replied casually: “Lantau”.

She continued: “I just said it because the following day I intended to go to Lantau with my boyfriend.”

The three accused, Tsang, Cheung and Keith Lau, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to murder Cheung Man-li, but they guilty to preventing the lawful burial of the deceased.

The case is continuing.

Photo: Ho Ling-yu (scmp.com screencap)

Owner of Pui O fatal attack dogs says she’s a victim

A Pui O dog-owner responsible for multiple attacks, including two fatalities, says it’s unfair to blame her.

“It is impossible to avoid accidents,” said Ms Choi in an interview with Apple Daily. She said the number of incidents was small.

“It is unfair of other dog owners to put the blame all on a single person,” she said. “I am also a victim.”

Choi contacted the Apple Daily after it published an article on Saturday describing the repeated attacks by her pets on other dogs.

Two dogs have died and at least half a dozen others have been injured in attacks that go back at least six years. Choi’s dogs also frequently chase and attack local buffalo herds.

Choi, who describes herself as a dog lover, she says she has raised 17 dogs in ten years living in Pui O.

Okka Scherer, who runs a dog rescue home at Pui O, says her dog Siu San (photo above) died after being attacked by three dogs in her front garden in February – one of many attacks, including one in which her helper was bitten on the leg.

Rayban’s injuries

She incurred veterinary costs of HK$20,000 as a result of an attack on her dog Rayban last October.

After Choi paid just the first HK$8000, Scherer took her the Small Claims Tribunal and won, but Choi has still not settled the full amount.

The police and the AFCD have declined to take action against Choi. AFCD has ordered Choi to muzzle her dogs, but Scherer says she has never seen her dogs wearing a muzzle.

Another owner whose dog was attacked is Cecilie Gamst-Berg, whose pet was badly injured in 2015.

Gamst-Berg said after the attack Choi was “ordered to muzzle the dogs but never did. They never paid my vet bill (HK$2,000) and never said sorry.”

She said she had reported Choi and her dogs to the AFCD two years earlier – yet after the second attack the department claimed not to have had any previous complaints.

Apple Daily story said Choi is a well-known local antique collector with a property portfolio worth than HK$50 million.

The paper says Choi had declined to respond when initially contacted, but approached the journalist after publication of the two articles on Saturday.

Review urged after another huge N. Lantau traffic jam

A Legco member has called for an urgent review of Lantau and west Hong Kong roads and traffic after partial closure of Lantau Link caused a massive jam yesterday.

Vehicles were banked up along the highway and as far as Tsuen Wan and Kwai Ching after central lanes on the Lantau Link bridges were closed yesterday afternoon following the issue of a strong monsoon warning.

Under the measures introduced, only the express lanes and slow lanes were opened to vehicles on the Tsing Ma, Kap Shui Mun and Ting Kau bridges, and the speed limit was reduced to 50 kmh. Some vehicles were diverted to the lower decks of the bridge.

The congestion continued well into yesterday evening, sparking a call from New Territories West member Alice Mak for a review of traffic arrangements, Apple Daily reported.

She said that since the switch to two-way tolls on North Lantau Highway, a number traffic jams had occurred, causing vehicles to back up across Kowloon .

She said the Transport Bureau could no longer avoid dealing with the problem. She said the bureau needed to examine all aspects of Lantau Link and west New Territories traffic arrangements, including toll collection and the possible need for further road arteries.