Big Buddha business

FORTUNE SEEMS to be smiling on the quaint environs of Ngong Ping high up on Lantau Island. Perched on the highlands 600 metres above sea level sits the Big Buddha, feted by tourists and worshippers alike. To marvel at the 23-metre-high bronze structure, an arduous journey is required, which can be a demanding chore for day trippers or holidaymakers on whistle-stop tours of Hong Kong.

Such travelling hardships will change once a six-kilometre cable-car line linking the new town of Tung Chung with Ngong Ping is in place by 2006. Not only will tourists and pilgrims be spared the long, winding crawl by bus or taxi up the narrow stretch of Tung Chung Road to the Po Lin Monastery - a whole way of life for people on the Lantau highlands might change as the cable-car terminus at Ngong Ping takes shape.

'If McDonald's and Cafe de Coral are coming here, then we could hardly resist, even if we are allowed to stay,' said Mr Tsang, a father of two, who fears his stall at Ngong Ping could be driven out of business by the combined forces of big-name companies and government regulations.

'There have been rumours circulating that we would be cleared once the cable car is completed. The big companies have the power, and they will target fatty business. If someone agrees and then someone approves, then they could do whatever they want.'

Like the monks and the 200 people employed by the monastery, Mr Tsang welcomes the prospect of a cable car improving transport links and attracting more visitors. Once the terminus at Ngong Ping is complete, it is feared the temptation to develop the site into an attraction matching The Peak's visitor centre will prove irresistible.

Such an unlikely tourist nirvana is creating a caution which does not appear prompted by any perceived threat to the serenity of the monastery's environs. Concern is instead mounting about the impact the cable car will have on the whole of Lantau, particularly the daily lives of people in such places as Tai O, Mui Wo, Ngong Ping and those who depend on the monastery for a living.