I was dismayed to find out recently that three 100-year-old trees in the pavement at Lai King Hill Road at the former Sung Dynasty Village were cut to make way for an access road leading to a new government housing project. Wouldn't it have been better for the planner to shorten the length of the access road to save these trees? The damage has been done.
At a year-end seminar organised by the Sham Shui Po District Office for members of the Individual Owners' Committees and Residents' Mutual Assistance Committees on December 18 an elderly woman at the gathering lamented that the district (called Deep Water Cove in Chinese) had lost its seaside due to land reclamation. She wondered when she would see the ocean again.
On the planning map displayed at the seminar I saw a piece of land bordering the harbour, the container terminal and the military site at Stonecutters Island, which is not zoned for container port-related use. This piece of land is being cut off from Kwai Chung District and the only access is by way of Shamshuipo. Wouldn't it be better to turn this into a seaside park linked by a bicycle path? A bridge will be built there for the future Route No 9. It would be even better for the site to be used as a viewing area for this grand project.
K.F. LAM Kowloon
