Lai See | The Stanley car park plan is madness and should be stopped

There have been many awful planning decisions in Hong Kong. One of the more ridiculous projects awaiting a decision is the proposed new car park in Stanley.

The plan which is being pushed by the Transport Department and the Southern District Council is for a 140-space car park on the site of the present bus terminus and adjoining car park at the junction of Stanley Beach Road and Stanley Village Road.

Stanley is a place of scenic charm. Unsurprisingly it attracts a lot of visitors at the weekend and on public holidays, and it can be difficult to find a parking space. A discussion paper produced by the Transport Department in April 2012 says there is insufficient parking at weekends and public holidays. It goes on to note that it consulted the Southern District Council in 2009 along with various other government departments.

"The review has taken into consideration factors such as site constraints, environmental and visual impact to the surroundings, design of the car park entrance/exit, preservation of existing trees," and so on. But nowhere in this paper does the Transport Department explain why it wants to build at that location, which at weekends is the most congested area.

The first proposal was to build a multi-storey car park on the site. This lunacy has now been modified to the lesser madness of building an underground car park. Another feature is to have coach parks along Beach Road. This means that the coaches will sit there with their engines running pumping out toxic emissions completely unhindered.

The department says it will take 40 months to build, which means more than three years of heavy construction work right at the most congested part of Stanley. Despite knowing how long it will take to build, the department is unwilling to say how much it will cost. It is saving this for when it goes to the Legislative Council finance committee for funding. So whatever it tells them we can add another 30 per cent.