Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong MTR
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Passengers rush into Kennedy Town MTR station during the opening yesterday of the West Island Line, connecting Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town. Journey times for commuters should be drastically reduced. Photo: Dickson Lee

Kennedy Town MTR station opens but not everyone is happy with the pace of change

Kennedy Town has a shiny new MTR station, but not everyone is happy with the pace of change

This morning, Kennedy Town commuters will troop onto the MTR's new West Island Line, ready to enjoy a smooth, seamless ride to their offices in the city. But long before that maiden journey, the city had already arrived in their corner of the island, in the form of ubiquitous shops and restaurants.

New residents, as well as restaurants, have been lured to the area, attracted by the prospect of the HK$18.5 billion MTR project. In the process, long-term locals have been left with mixed feelings at the pace of change.

With new homes and new businesses, rents have risen, squeezing out those unable to catch up and modernise. In 2011, the biggest casualty was the traditional Sun Chung Wah (or "New China") dim sum restaurant that had been in Kennedy Town for 60 years. It was dubbed one of the "three treasures" by locals in Western district. The other two "treasures" are a traditional tea cafe or , Cheung Heung Yuen, and a congee restaurant, Cheuk Kee.

Cheung Heung Yuen, which opened in 1967 just opposite the now closed Sun Chung Wah on Belcher's Street, is famous for its egg tarts, cocktail and pineapple buns and milk tea.

Sixty-nine-year-old owner Chow Sek-fung recalled that when he took over the business in 1978, the Western district was a bustling hive of activity. Kennedy Town represented island life in the raw - vegetable and poultry wholesale markets, slaughterhouses with associated smells making their way into neighbouring streets, gritty factories responsible for everything from sweaters to sharks' fins, and seedy bars and brothels.

With development, many of these establishments have been relocated, along with the poorer inhabitants of the area - a number of whom have ended up in public housing in the New Territories. As a result, the working-class neighbourhood - which got its name from Hong Kong's seventh British governor Arthur Edward Kennedy, who served from 1872 to 1877 and reclaimed the strip of land along the harbour - has shrunk.

The long-awaited rail line is expected to revitalise the old district of Kennedy Town, which had 47,000 inhabitants as of 2011. And although it brought good business to his restaurant yesterday, Chow is not holding his breath. He believes the newcomers have different tastes.

"[The new rail line] is only powering developers to buy out old buildings [for redevelopment] … Only those who are well off will move in as they can afford the home prices," he said. "I think only one in 10 [of them] comes to the restaurant. It's usually the old residents who have been living in the community for a long time who come here."

Chow is not far off the mark, according to Elaine Fang, an assistant manager of property agent Midland Realty for Western district. She said people had been moving to the area since 2010 because of the MTR, and about a third of those were expatriates.

"It has become a middle-class community," she said, suggesting that their consumption habits were vastly different from those of long-term locals and older residents.

This gentrification is most evident on Hau Wo Street and the waterfront of New Praya, where trendy bars, hipster coffee shops, Italian restaurants and sushi places have taken the place of garages and grocery shops in the past decade.

The people who like to patronise such establishments are also those buying the newer, more expensive homes. Fang said this year alone home prices in the district had increased by some 5 to 10 per cent. A square foot at high-rise development The Belcher's now costs an average of HK$20,000. The price was HK$18,000 at the start of the year.

She expected home prices in the district would remain stable.

Fang said shop rentals had also gone up but were now moderating slightly as businesses found it difficult to cope with the heftier rents. "Landlords are less aggressive in increasing the rent now," she said.

Chow said he was fortunate as his landlord had been kind enough not to raise his rent drastically over the years. He said he was now paying HK$60,000 a month - up from HK$6,000 a month 36 years ago.

Like Chow, shopowner Ng Kai-ming is less troubled by rent than by thinning traffic. His stationery store, Knowledge Book Centre, opened in 1977 and moved to the quieter Catchick Street in 1996.

"Western district may be good for living, but will the MTR bring more people here? This is a big question," he said. "Many people tell me your takings must be quite good because you are the only store in the district. But I can tell you, it's still not as good as when there were seven or eight competitors in the district."

Ng's shop opens almost 365 days a year but he is struggling because the new arrivals prefer to shop at the malls rather than in an old shop. "It's a small business, and it really relies on customers from the local community. Many of them have now left [because of the redevelopment], so would it not affect our business?" he asked as he helped customers with their photocopying.

"I will continue until I can't. Why? Although I don't earn much now, it's better than wandering around the streets after I reach retirement age. It's better to sit in the shop as long as it doesn't lose money," Ng said.

Echoing his sentiments, 63-year-old retiree Bibiana Tang, who lives at The Belcher's, said that while the West Island Line would help commuters, she was worried about the older shops and the interests of the younger generation. "My son bought a flat in this area last year. It was just about 200-something square foot, and it cost more than HK$3 million," Tang said.

Lamenting the disappearance of the old shops, she said: "When chain stores replace the old ones … it's not really giving us more choice, it's just the same shops everywhere."

Tang said that even though two of the new University of Hong Kong station's exits were located outside The Belcher's residential complex, she would still prefer to take the tram if she was not in a hurry.

Speaking after the opening of the rail extension yesterday, MTR Corporation acting chief executive Lincoln Leong Kwok-kuen said the West Island Line was built as a "community railway" that brought convenience for residents. He said he wanted to encourage Hongkongers to visit the Western district and experience "the art and culture that the fabulous district has to offer".

Leong declined to comment on whether the railway line would harm the old shops, only saying that "the most important thing is to provide a safe, comfortable journey for all public transport passengers".

Felix Cheng, 46, who also lives at The Belcher's, is ready to embrace the change. Cheng, who works in Admiralty, is swapping buses for the MTR. He used to take the bus to the nearest MTR station in Sheung Wan every morning to avoid the traffic jam in Central, but the bus ride would still take him at least 20 minutes.

"Sometimes it could take as long as 30 minutes just to go to Sheung Wan, but I think it will only take five to seven minutes by rail," he said. The Transport Department said an MTR ride from HKU to Admiralty would take nine minutes.

First-year HKU engineering student Leon Lo also welcomed the opening of the West Island Line. Lo, who came all the way from his home in Tseung Kwan O to try out the new line yesterday, said: "In the past it could take 90 minutes for me to get to HKU to attend classes. Now, it'll only take 45 minutes - there's no trouble any more."

Apart from the convenience, the HKU station was also regarded by students and alumni as the last jigsaw in the university's HK$3.3 billion Centennial Campus project - built at the western end of the main campus to create extra space for students.

The Centennial Campus opened two years ago, but with the new station, elevators and footbridges, the 102-year-old institution is now fully accessible by train.

However, as some residents and students were celebrating yesterday, those living in Sai Ying Pun will have to wait a few more months for their MTR station to open. The opening has been delayed until March because of construction problems at the exits.

Passengers will get HK$2 off when they tap their Octopus cards at three discount machines near the station and board at Sheung Wan or HKU, to encourage those around Sai Ying Pun to use the West Island Line.

Central and Western district council vice-chairman Chan Hok-fung also said that bus operators were expected to cut or merge bus routes in the district once the Sai Ying Pun station opens.

From yesterday, the M47 bus route, which ran between Wah Fu and Central, has been replaced by the new 43M route, which shuttles between Tin Wan in Southern district and Shek Tong Tsui.

Three new minibus routes will also start running between Southern district and Kennedy Town.

In March, the Transport Department said it planned to merge, cancel or closely monitor the passenger volume of about 20 bus routes once the West Island Line opened.

"We hope it can be done stage by stage … because we [care about] our community and we are concerned about whether it will affect the buses we usually take," said the 37-year-old councillor, who grew up in Kennedy Town.

"We hope [the West Island Line] will be a good thing ... But it would be unhealthy for the community to have [little choice] other than the MTR," he said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: The other side of the tracks
Post