Island's only private golf club asks for range to be included in plan for park
A golf club has appealed to the government to incorporate its driving range into a park planned for Aldrich Bay, saying it is a popular training ground for players on Hong Kong Island.
The Island Golf Club said it had secured support from 3,000 residents and members to keep the driving range where it is.
The range occupies about half of a 21,700 square metre site that the government proposes to transform into a park with a fishing village and its culture as the theme.
The club has been leasing the land since the range opened in 2005 and it is the only private driving range open to the public on Hong Kong Island. It has a membership of 3,800 and more than 10,000 people use the facilities every month.
Club director William Tam Ho-hon said the company supported the government's plan to build a park but hoped it could include the amenity.
'About 90 per cent of our customers live on Hong Kong Island and 60 per cent are from Eastern District. Keeping the driving range can allow the public easy access to the sport.'
Mr Tam said the club had been giving discounts to schools and the elderly while children who learned golf in classes organised by the Social Welfare Department were allowed to play there for free.
'It is a win-win plan,' he said. 'The public can enjoy the facilities in the proposed park while people who want more active recreation can use our golf facilities.'
Eastern District councillor Ngan Chun-lim said the club's proposal was not in line with the original intention of providing more passive open space for residents in Sai Wan Ho.
'About 30,000 more residents are expected in Aldrich Bay alone. There is such a serious shortage of open space in the area that you see people exercising or playing tai chi under the flyovers,' he said.
A spokeswoman for the Lands Department said the short-term tenancy would end on December 31 and the site would be handed to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Suggestions by the club on developing the park would be passed to the department.
