AS a near neighbour of the Mui Wo ponds featured in your newspaper, (South China Morning Post, July 19) I should like to congratulate Messrs Pedrazzini and Henderson on their efforts to halt the destruction of an area that was once both tranquil and beautiful. Two of the article's revelations do, however, require further comment. I refer to the breathtaking incompetence of the Government departments concerned and also to the overweening insouciance of the ''resident engineer''; the aptly-named Mr Mudd.
The former will come as no surprise to those of us who live in rural areas and who are accustomed to the cavalier manner in which the Government views the impact of its operations upon the environment. This is well-illustrated by the ghastly Regional Services complex recently finished in Mui Wo.
Mr Mudd, however, should be pulled up for his airy nonchalance and I invite him to respond to the following: First, what does he mean by saying, ''Everything will be restored to normal in two months''? Am I to understand by this that when I return from my summer holidays I shall find the ponds as they were before the dumping started? The damage done already defies belief.
When did the bureaucracy of Hongkong ever achieve anything in two months? Secondly, why have the contractors apparently been spared the $100,000 fine and the subsequent daily penalties? By my reckoning, they must owe about half a million dollars for having flouted the law. Why does Mr Mudd shrug his shoulders and say, ''These things happen''? Why does the Planning Department state that ''no further action will be taken''? Thirdly, who will pay for the damage to be undone? Will it be the contractors or the taxpayer? Insofar as it was taxpayers' money which financed the destruction in the first place, it would seem monstrous that we should all have to pay again for the mess to be cleaned up.PETER JOHNSON Lantau
