Opinion | Let's be less dogmatic on relics in Hong Kong

This must be one of the most expensive archaeological digs in the world.

We have apparently already paid billions to preserve some ancient wells, a stone footpath and a few building remnants at a site formerly called Sacred Hill in To Kwa Wan.

This stems from the accidental find of the ancient relics dating back to the Song dynasty during construction of the new MTR line between Sha Tin and Central.

It has so far cost the government more than HK$3 billion and delayed the project by 11 months. That's according to Transport and Housing Secretary Anthony Cheung Bing-leung. Most of the relics will stay where they are, and the new station will be built around them. But to preserve the rest, it will cost a further HK$1 billion.

There are other options but all are costly and time-consuming. The easiest and least costly is to remove the last remnants for exhibition elsewhere.

Of course, diehard heritage activists have objected. Officials and consultant archaeologists are too spineless to make practical suggestions one way or another. In the past, officials from the colonial and early post-handover eras were happy to knock down and bulldoze any heritage structures of value if they stood in the way of development.