No say in how my village will live in the shadow of yet another flyover
It has recently been brought to my attention that in three years time, I will literally be staring up into a cloud of smoke, soot, dust and concrete.
I am talking about the Civil Engineering and Development Department's plans to build the T4 trunk road through Tai Wai connecting Sha Tin to Kowloon. Tung Lo Wan Village in Sha Tin has been vastly overlooked in theses plans.
Many of the residents in this village strongly oppose it, and the planning authority lists this village as nothing more than a 'sensitive receiver'. Read between the lines and a sensitive receiver sounds like: not important enough to care about and no longer a viable place to live.
Already I stare up from my balcony at the current T3 road and the three other road connections that existed before. Now the government is trying to push through with the world's highest flyover. The T4 will sit higher than anything in the village and, combined with the current four levels of road that sit directly in front, the residents of this village are guaranteed health problems, low property values and a lack of wind or daylight.
Is this what the original residents are rewarded with? The situation for many of these typically middle income residents is bleak. Many don't want to move from Tung Lo Wan Village, where some families have lived for close to 100 years. I can't afford to buy in a nicer area even if I wanted to.
I remember when this village was connected only by a frontage road and was surrounded by tall trees. I have discussed the issue with the village chiefs and found to my disbelief they knew about the plans.
The problem lies in the fact that even though the village was strongly against the plans, the CEDD had no problem with pushing them through. What a double standard: when Happy Valley residents say no to a proposed MTR station, they get their way.
There are many other options that could have been chosen that would not directly bisect a growing residential area but, for some reason, the government has set its mind on this one. Why? Is this the fate of all middle-class Hong Kong residents - no say and no input in the future of Hong Kong or even the area they live in?
Anthony Brewer, Tung Lo Wan Village
