bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

THE E-MAIL FORUM

Q Should the government be forced to stop filling in the harbour?

My heartfelt appreciation goes to Winston Chu Ka-sun, Christine Loh Kung-wai and all members of the Society for the Protection of the Harbour for contributing their time and great effort to protect and fight for our world-famous Victoria Harbour.

I urge the political parties to join hands in this campaign to prevent our beautiful harbour from gradually becoming an ugly river. It is also high time for the rich and famous to stand up and join in, if not for the beautiful harbour then for the value of their properties.

If the government still turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to our plea, I urge the society to try to organise another 500,000 people to take to the streets.

Given the great support for the society's fund raising campaign in the street this week, I am sure not just the middle and lower classes but even the rich would show up to demonstrate people power.

W.K. Wong, Wan Chai

I support Winston Chu suing the government to stop reclamation work in the harbour. The government does not have a complete and detailed urban plan. It never listens to the community. It never learns from experience.

I see the harbour view getting worse and worse because of the proliferation of skyscrapers in Hunghom and the Central waterfront. More and more monster buildings loom over the waterfront. They block and distort the panorama of the harbour.

We hardly see the nice  landscape from Sai Kung (Pat Sin Ling) to Tai Mo Shan (Tsuen Wan) anymore. As a child in the 1970s, I enjoyed the view from the ferry or the Hong Kong waterfront to Kowloon. Now, the reclamation of Tai Kok Tsui, Wan Chai, Shau Kei Wan and Siu Sai Wan has made the harbour rough, dangerous to navigate and very polluted.

Name and address supplied

Q Is too much being spent on the Harbour Fest?

It's hard to know where to start with the 'reporting' you have devoted to this event. Is there any aggrieved party you haven't given a mouthpiece to?

We've had politicians saying the money would be better spent on unemployment (by handing out $10 bills on the streets?). We've had promoters complaining they didn't get a piece of the pie. We've had any number of people complaining of 'overspending' on acts, even though no numbers have been confirmed.

And now we have the big music companies, who say they would have organised it all for free, apparently (so why didn't they?). Ah, the questions that have not been asked ...

My favourite comment, though, was the one that maybe the whole list of artists was chosen by a bunch of middle-aged white men who got together and went through their CD collections. Outstanding work by your reporters. Congratulations.

There's just not enough newsprint to rebut all the dumb arguments you have put forth in your pages, so let's cut to the chase: what relevance does this all have to Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is an international city - not just Chinese, not just Asian - and our long-term prosperity depends on maintaining both that reality and that image. AmCham and InvestHK, which after all was commissioned to spend $1 billion on post-Sars recovery efforts, have decided that Harbour Fest is a good way to do this.

It may or may not be true, and there's probably no way we'll ever be able to prove it, though I suspect it's more interesting internationally than a lame laser show and a few more posters and lucky draws. But in a city that has put up with little but moans and whines and hot air from all quarters for years, Harbour Fest is a concrete show of dedication and support, and fun, in a city that is sorely lacking them.

Now that you have some more facts - that well more than half the acts will indeed be from Asia, that the Rolling Stones would be paid for two shows instead of one, that the deficit, if there is one, will likely be in the $30 million range rather than the $80 million you have hyped - perhaps the Post can report something truly newsworthy: Harbour Fest is a terrific new idea. We should do it every year.

Rob Glucksman, Lai Chi Kok

On other matters...

I refer to the article headlined 'Greening group plans to plant giant fake cacti on Nathan Road' published in your newspaper on September 10. Since then, a number of your readers have expressed concern in your Talkback column regarding the proposed use of sculptures, which may have been mistaken as 'fake cacti'.

I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the above greening proposal, which involves using sculptures as public art installation to enhance the visual environment of the area.

The proposal to erect sculptures (not fake cacti) at the central median along a section of Nathan Road aims to add vibrancy and identity to the district.

The sculptures are a public art installation, which may take an organic shape with colour and pattern variations for different locations.

The artist's impression of the sculptures as published in the South China Morning Post on September 10 is a schematic design. We will consult the public over the details before we proceed further.

Apart from using sculptures,  shrubs and flowers will also be  planted on the central median along the section of Nathan Road.

Tree planting in urban streets such as Nathan Road is extremely difficult due to the spatial limitations and presence of underground utilities. It is estimated that there are about 60,000km of cables and ducts installed along 2,000km of roads throughout Hong Kong.

C.S. Wai, for the secretary of the environment, transport and works



talk back