Tung Chung residents could be able to ride to Chek Lap Kok via light rail or the Airport Express under proposals now being considered by government agencies.
But even if approved it will likely be years before either becomes a reality.
Transport Secretary Anthony Cheung has told Legco he is reviewing an Airport Authority study into the feasibility of a rail shuttle using spare capacity on the Airport Express line, running between the proposed Tung Chung East MTR station and Chek Lap Kok.
Cheung said the report, completed last month, to assess the feasibility of the light rail scheme “as well as how the matter should be taken forward.”
In January the government formally asked the MTR Corp to submit proposals for the construction of new stations at west and east Tung Chung to support new housing developments.
But Cheung admitted that the Tung Chung East station won’t be ready until 2026. Until then residents will travel to Tung Chung MTR via mini-bus.
He added that the Civil Engineering and Planning departments are investigating “different transport connectivity proposals” for public transport between the Hong Kong-Macau bridge border crossing, North Lantau and Chek Lap Kok airport.
One of the schemes is for a light rail system, in response to requests from the public and Legco. The study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Thirteen years after it was first proposed, a HK$335 million special needs school is finally going ahead in Tung Chung.
Thelloy Development Group has won a HK$268 million contract to build the school for moderately and severely intellectually disabled children.
It was originally slated to be built on the then-vacant block opposite Lantau North Hospital, but was forced to move after local residents rejected it on grounds of noise pollution, traffic congestion and because it was “not supported.”
The school on Chung Mun Rd will have 18 classrooms and boarding facilities for 60 children. The first classes are expected to be held in 2019.
According to Education Bureau figures from 2014, 130 special needs children live in Tung Chung and the outlying islands.
One-bedroom units are in heavy demand at Tung Chung’s Visionary complex, with the price this month reaching a new high of $12,584 per sq foot.
A one-bedroom apartment in tower 10, with a usable area of 445 sq feet and lacking a sea view, sold last week for HK$5.6 million. The previous owner paid HK$3.67 million in December 2013.
The new buyer is an investor who is likely to lease the property for approximately HK$11,000 per month, Economic Times reported.
Nine Visionary flats changed hands in May, including six one-bedroom apartments, commanding prices of HK$5.0-5.6 million.
Tin Gwok-fai, Midland real estate manager at the Coastal Skyline branch, said Visionary’s stock is limited, in particular for one-bedroom units. Most of those sold will be leased, he said.
Local MTR service was hit with yet another failure near Tung Chung station on Saturday morning.
A signalling breakdown at 8:25 am meant that passengers had to wait 15 minutes for trains from Hong Kong to Tung Chung and five minutes from Tung Chung. Services returned to normal at 8:50.
The line ground to a halt for an hour in early April because an equipment failure caused a train to stop, blocking the line.
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Singer Shirley Kwan attended Lantau North Police Station on Friday afternoon, Apple Daily reported.
While she and her male companion declined to give details, the singer was arrested in March following an incident at the Auberge Discovery Bay Hotel in which an hotel staff member was assaulted. Police say a 50-year-old woman will appear in West Kowloon Magistrates Court on May 24 on charges of criminal intimidation and assault.
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One property investor is already profit-taking from the Hong Kong-Macao Bridge – by selling parking spaces, Ming Pao reports. Since late last year Hung Lungtsuen has been buying parking lots in Tung Chung, anticipating a rise in demand after the bridge opens next year. He sold one parking lot, acquired for more than HK$90 million, for HK$110 million early this year.
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Unpopular Education Secretary Eddie Ng has drawn a lot of press this weekend for his appearance dancing with students at the Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College in Tai O on Friday.
Local media have contrasted this with his repeated failures to appear at hearings on the controversial local school assessment system, TSA. While on Lantau Ng also paid a visit to Po Lin Monastery.
Photo: Wiki Commons
The hike: Mui Wo to Tai Ho Wan and Tung Chung.
Distance: 10 km Time: Approx 2.5 hours
A comfortable stroll into the past and future of Lantau.
This walk crosses from Mui Wo on Lantau’s south coast to Pak Mong and Tai Ho Wan on the north. A well-trodden path between villages that have historically been very close, it finishes in the shadow of the Lantau Link and the freeway to Tuen Mun, still under construction.
It’s not a demanding walk, with only a short period of uphill walking, and conveniently finishes in Tung Chung.
The journey
Exit Mui Wo Pier and head right on the footpath past the bike racks and the drab cooked food market beside one of Hong Kong’s most beautiful bays.
Track ahead on the newly-completed, tree-free walkway and turn right at the Five-Cent Bridge. You will soon reach Silvermine Bay Hotel. In the post-war era and up until the 80s this was the site of Chung Hau St, the bustling hub of daily Mui Wo life in what was then a settlement of 20,000. Because of the decline in agriculture and fishing and the emergence of Tung Chung, Mui Wo has hollowed out, with a population today of around 5,000.
Passing the hotel, follow the path around to the left and then take the right at the public toilet at the junction (remember these paths carry a regular stream of bicycle traffic; be sure to walk in single file).
Mui Wo was and still is a series of discrete villages. You are now leaving the old village of Chung Hau with a stream on your right-hand side and the village Wang Tong ahead of you. After a couple of minutes you will come to a junction. Take the left-hand fork toward Pak Ngan Heung and Silvermine Cave.
You are passing through Mui Wo’s rear garden, with a number of pretty gardens and small farm lots. It’s also occasionally wet and marshy, so you may meet the odd buffalo and egret.
After another 10 minutes you will meet the Olympic Trail. It has little to do with the Olympics, other than being built to celebrate the Beijing Games, and it encompasses the path from here to Tai Ho Wan (sometimes the entire route from Mui Wo to Pak Mong is dubbed the Olympic Trail). You’ll need to take a sharp right.
But before you do, take stock of the local attractions. On your right is the fine Yick Yuen mansion, once the home of a wealthy rice merchant. You can’t enter but even from the outside the 7.2ha estate is impressive.
Straight ahead is the village of Pak Ngan Heung. Stepping through the arch you will find a Man Mo Temple. Yes, of the same family as the famous Sheung Wan temple, offering worship to the gods of literature (man) and the military (mo). It is notable for having been in existence since Ming times. This is not quite the original object, having been rebuilt in 1901 and 1960 and refurbished in 2001, but impressive nonetheless for its 400-year history.
Head back to the Olympic trail and you will shortly encounter the popular Silvermine Waterfall. It’s a picturesque spot and spectacular in the rainy season.
Next is a short steep climb to the Silvermine Cave. It’s less a cave than the sealed entrance to the old silver mine. Not much to see here. Despite its legacy in local place names, it appears to have only lasted a decade or so. It’s not even clear when that was. The AFCD sign here says it opened in 1910, but a local researcher has put that date at 1886 . There is no dispute, however, that colourful entrepreneur Ho Amei was the founder.
Now comes the climbing section of the walk. The reward for the effort is that the hike up the steps reveals fine views of Silvermine Bay and, on a clear day, across to Hei Ling Chau and Hong Kong Island.
After about 30 minutes from the cave you will reach the crest. Much to the amusement of other hikers, the summit market has been labelled D7 689 – uncomplimentary nicknames for Hong Kong’s current leader and leader-to-be.
From here it’s downhill all the way to Pak Mong, mostly on well-made steps.
If you’re up for a more challenging walk, you will reach the turn-off for Lo Fu Tau about ten minutes down the path. That’s a 3.4 km loop with fine mountaintop views that gets close to Discovery Bay and takes a bit over an hour.
The next rest stop as you descend is a small green-roofed pavilion offering views of Tai Ho Wan and the freeway flyover emerging out of Tung Chung Bay.
Not far past that you will reach Ngau Kwo Long. Residents here and in the neighbouring villages are in a long-running battle with government planners and ‘fake environmentalists’ and on occasion have closed the path in protest. They’ve hung banners in English and Chinese to explain why.
Shortly past Ngau Long Wan the path swings left and turns into a vehicle access road. You get a good view of the village from the road, set between the green rice fields and the mountains.
If it’s a weekend or public holiday you will meet a lot of foot and bike traffic coming from the other direction – mostly Tung Chung people.
Not far along the road brings is Pak Mong. The first thing you notice is the freeway flyover is just a few hundred metres away, towering over the village fields.
The village boasts an impressive-looking guard tower, but which was only built in 1939. The ‘sword stone’ next to it is of interest perhaps only to wonder why it should be of interest.
Finally, we reach Tai Ho Wan, the mouth of the Tai Ho Stream river which exits here into Tung Chung Bay. Hard as it is to believe, this inlet in the shadow of a flyover is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Greenpower describes Tai Ho Stream as Hong Kong’s “best” freshwater stream “accounting for about 29% of all Hong Kong’s freshwater fish, and the highest diversity of freshwater fish” in the city.
This SSSI, incidentally, is one of those issues that antagonise the local villagers. They will be comforted to know that its future is in doubt. Tung Chung Bay is earmarked for serious reclamation with the aim of building another 120,000 homes over the next decade or so. Environmentalists have pointed out that the reclamation runs to with 100m of the Tai Ho Wan outfall, limiting the ability of the fresh river water to circulate.
Of lesser importance: Tai Ho Wan marks the end of the Olympic Trail. Remain on the path as it skirts the little freshwater bay and take the underpass to the other side of the freeway. Take a walk to the edge of Pak Mong pier and watch Hong Kong’s newest piece of road infrastructure taking shape.
You can also savour the mere existence of the bay itself. At the other side 130ha has been swallowed up by the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge landing zone. If the government has its way, dredging for the housing development will start on this side later this year.
From this point take the bayside path that heads west directly to Tung Chung. Get onto Ying Hei Road and then turn left onto Man Tung Road at the intersection. It’s about one kilometre to the Citigate entrance on the left. You can find the MTR at the far end of the mall.
Getting there
Starting from Mui Wo
Take the Mui Wo ferry from pier 6 at the Outlying Islands terminal. Note the fast ferry takes approximately 30 minutes; the slow ferry 50 minutes.
Starting from Tung Chung
Take the MTR Tung Chung Line to Tung Chung. Take escalator to the Citigate Mall 2F and walk to Novotel end of the mall. Exit onto Man Tung Rd and turn right.
A young water buffalo has relocated himself to Tung Chung valley – the first in the region for three decades.
He was spotted last week by LBA members near Shek Mun Kap. LBA chair Ho Loy said the buffalo, who is four or five years old, was a shy male who had been chased away from the Ham Tin herd.
But there is no wetland suitable for buffalo, and no other buffalo, in the area, so Ho has proposed returning him to the Shui Hau wetland, where one of the big bulls passed away three years ago. “There’s no point in sending him back to Pui O,” she said.
The AFCD cattle team says he will be difficult to capture if he is in forest or near villages, but are happy to catch and relocate him if he gets near a road or is a threat to traffic or his own safety.
Prior to development in the late 1980s, Tung Chung had for centuries been a farming and fishing settlement with a regular population of buffalo that were used as work animals.
We can see Tung Chung’s last buffalo in this RTHK 1988 documentary on Tung Chung’s last farms. It in Cantonese but we can see buffalo helping in the sowing and harvesting at 2:18 and 6:39.
The government is pushing ahead with plans to build 40,000 new apartments on reclaimed land in Tung Chung Bay – but a green group has called for the project to be scaled back by a third.
The Development Bureau is seeking HK$20.6 billion from Legco for the 120ha reclamation. A second stage will involve reclaiming a further 80ha. The projects are part of the Tung Chung New Town Extension plan which aims to add another 120,000 homes in the area by 2030. Continue reading
A 58-year-old man has pleaded guilty to one count of bestiality with a dog near Tung Chung.
Chung Lin-fai, a former welder, admitted that he had used a piece of bread to entice a two-year-old female dog to a stream near Wong Lung Hang Rd, Tung Chung on February 1. Continue reading
Tung Chung’s secondary real estate market is heating up. Transactions doubled last month, with one Seaview Crescent apartment becoming the first to fetch HK$10 million.
With such brisk demand – more than 80 sales took place in March – most owners raised their prices. The average price in the Caribbean Coast, to give an example, increased by 5% to HK$9650 per sq foot.
Water supply was restored to Tung Chung this morning after government staff repaired a burst pipe that had cut supply to the whole district.
A burst pipe at Sheung Ling Pei between Yu Tung Rd and Tung Chung Rd cut drinking water to Tung Chung New Town and surrounding villages at noon Tuesday.
Among the premises affected was North Lantau Hospital. A spokesperson told Apple Daily it had ample supply of water from its backup water tank. The Water Supplies Department (WSD) also sent a water truck to the hospital.
The 150mm-diameter pipe between on the edge of Tung Chung was part of the main pipe that supplied the town and therefore impacted the entire suburb. WSD staff restored supply at 6am today.
Meanwhile, some Discovery Bay residents were without flushing water for up to two days after a pipe burst on Sunday.
Lantau Confidential 
