Council opposes Mega Tower roadworks
Wan Chai District Council has urged the government to reassess the affect on traffic of Hopewell Holdings' controversial planned Mega Tower.
The council yesterday passed a motion opposing planned roadworks designed to relieve predicted traffic pressure after completion of the 93-storey hotel tower until it has been given details of the work and its traffic concerns have been allayed.
Citing a traffic impact assessment report by Hopewell, Transport Department chief traffic engineer Cheng Hung-leung said an extra 500 small vehicles would pass along Kennedy Road each hour when the building was finished, bringing the total to 1,100 an hour.
But councillors challenged the neutrality of the developer's assessment.
'Why didn't the Transport Department conduct its own assessment? It would be much more credible. Will the department do it?' councillor Anna Tang King-yung asked.
But Mr Cheng defended Hopewell's report. 'We made our proposals after seeing that Hopewell's estimates of pedestrian and vehicle flows were reasonable,' he said.
The government last month proposed a series of traffic improvement works to the council's development, planning and transport committee based on the developer's report.
The proposals included widening a section of Kennedy Road near the entrance to the tower, roadwork on Spring Garden Lane and shortening green-light times on some traffic lights. But councillors were not convinced of their effectiveness.
Deputy Secretary for Development Susan Mak Lok Suet-ling said the proposed works were scheduled to be gazetted next month and the public could submit views within a 60-day consultation period.
More than 20 neighbourhood residents who attended yesterday's meeting displayed protest banners in the council meeting room and booed officials.
Kennedy Road Concern Group convenor Sally Ho Emmerton said she was very disappointed with the government's responses. The group has filed a complaint with the Legislative Council complaints division.
Tall order
Many in the Wan Chai district oppose Hopewell Holding's Mega Tower
Under the present plan, the number of storeys in the hotel tower will be: 93
