Hong Kong activists rally against Highways Department decision to fell four 100-year-old trees on Bonham Road
District councillor and activists say reasons given for felling of trees on Bonham Road were insufficient, but architect says it was necessary
Activist groups and district councillors protested outside the Highways Department's Kai Tak headquarters on Wednesday against the felling of four 100-year-old trees in Sai Ying Pun last week.
Separately, members of the Civic Party filed a complaint to the government watchdog about three departments involved in the controversial axing of the trees on Bonham Road.
At the protest, the Democratic Party's Central and Western councillor, Ted Hui Chi-fung, flanked by members of environmental group Green Sense and activist group Island West Dynamic Movement, said officials had not provided enough justification for removing the trees and urged the government to pledge not to indiscriminately cut down valuable trees in future.
"The Highways Department doesn't believe they are at fault, and from their explanation, they still don't think there was any public maladministration. This will only incite more public anger," Hui said.
But senior architect John Chan Hon-cheung of the department's landscape unit said they were left with no choice.
"We empathise with [people's] feelings over the loss of this stone wall tree on Bonham Road," he said, after receiving a petition letter from the activist groups in the lobby of the department's headquarters. "The tree was suddenly in a very unstable condition and was at immediate risk of collapsing. To protect public safety, we made this difficult and painful decision."
He said the department would elaborate further on the matter at a district council meeting later this month. He then left without answering questions.
Unsatisfied with Chan's brief response, the groups attempted to head upstairs to the department's offices in search of further explanation but security guards disabled the lifts. They then took the stairs to the offices on the fifth floor but were not allowed in.
In a detailed report released late last night, the Highways Department explained that though the four trees had already been pruned in July to reduce the risk of collapse, new cracks were found on the parapet wall on the top of the stonewall this month. This showed "the anchorage of the trees had been affected and the situation was worsening" and there was a risk of "imminent collapse" the report said.
It went on to claim that other mitigation measures were not possible and an impending thunderstorm warning prompted officials to go ahead with the felling of the trees.
Meanwhile, the Civic Party filed a complaint to the Ombudsman questioning the department's rationale for cutting down the trees, which was that cracks had appeared in a stone wall behind them. The party said this was "misleading" given cracks had not appeared in the retaining wall that supported the trees.
They criticised the Home Affairs Department for consulting only "pro-establishment" factions of Central and Western District Council, and also took aim at the Tree Management Office for not sending another expert to verify the Highways Department's decision.
Legislator Dr Kenneth Chan Ka-lok said the slow and cumbersome explanation was like "squeezing toothpaste out of a tube".
A spokeswoman for the Ombudsman said it would take 10 to 15 days to assess the complaints.
