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Keep the 'Ding Dings'! Plan to scrap Hong Kong's 'iconic' trams from Central looks doomed after overwhelming public opposition

A controversial idea to get rid of trams from Hong Kong’s Central business district  to ease traffic congestion  already looks doomed after the planning authorities were swamped with 15,000 submissions – mostly against the plan.

The Planning Department also admitted that the tram was an important, affordable means of transport  that would be hard to replace.
However Sit Kwok-keung – the retired town planner who submitted the proposal for the Town Planning Board for consideration – insists the trams, which have trundled along tracks on the island for 110 years, should be put in “museums” in a modern Hong Kong.

Read more: Car-free Central? Hong Kong campaigners want key road reserved for trams and pedestrians

Read more: INFOGRAPHIC: Ding! Ding! Hong Kong's historic trams celebrate 110th anniversary

At a special meeting of the Central and Western district council on Thursday, all members who spoke opposed Sit’s plan. Some rejected the proposal as “a farce”, while others said tram had become an icon of Hong Kong and should never be scrapped.

Senior town planner Jessica Lee Kit-tak said at the meeting: “The Planning Department agrees that the tram is an important and affordable means of transport on the island. And it is hardly replaceable.”

She added that the department had so far received 15,000 submissions regarding the proposal, mostly opposing the idea. Members of the public will have until Friday, September 4, to submit views. The Town Planning Board is expected to discuss the proposal at a meeting on October 23.

Watch: A journey through history: the ups and downs of Hong Kong's beloved 110-year-old tram

Faced with heavy criticism by district councillors at the meeting, Sit  argued: “Hong Kong values efficiency. It is a luxury to use the tram  downtown. It is wasting our valuable land resources in the heart of Hong Kong.”

Councillor Cheung Kwok-kwan, of Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said: “The tram is the victim, not the culprit, of the traffic congestion in Central.” He said making Central a tram-only zone might perhaps be more effective in easing traffic.

Read more: IN PICTURES: A look at Hong Kong’s ‘ding ding’ trams through the ages

Members also asked the police to step up action against private cars that block traffic while waiting to pick up bosses in Central.

Sit is not new to raising controversial ideas. Earlier this year, he put forward a proposal to rezone the People’s Liberation Army headquarters in Admiralty into a hotel site. The Town Planning Board blocked the plan.

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