Q Should the Sai Kung waterfront be turned into a pedestrian area? Ian Seabourne, the Wong Tai Sin district police commander, suggested turning the Sai Kung waterfront into a pedestrian area. It is generally a very good idea. It will definitely benefit most people, visitors, residents and Sai Kung businesses alike. However, it will not be the solution to solving the problem of 'car jockeys'. Sai Kung is very congested with traffic, especially on weekends and holidays. People are driving their cars on the few roads in Sai Kung town, trying to park their cars in what they think is the most convenient spot. The car parks are also difficult to find for visitors, and it could well be that one car park is full and cars are queuing in front, while others are fairly empty. Perhaps, it would be helpful if the authority considered putting up signs with clear directions and also indications about how many spaces are available at each car park. That way, one would have the opportunity to go directly to the available parking spaces, avoiding unnecessary traffic congestion and waiting time. But car jockeys will still run their business, even knowing that the seafront restaurants are in relative close walking distance to all of the major car parks. Most people seem to like the convenience of getting their cars as close as possible to the waterfront restaurants. This is when the car jockeys will take over and drive the cars to the nearest possible parking space and then back to their 'customers'. For this, they demand a 'service fee'. Perhaps they should consider legalising their business? Ralf J.Weiss, Sai Kung Q Should Hong Kong build a Formula One racetrack? It would be a great way to get street racers off the road and into a much safer and controlled environment. In the United States, official drag strips helped to move racers away from backstreet racing and into sanctioned venues. Remember, racers like to compete with each other to prove who has better skills and cars - they will embrace a proper and measured way to do this. Second, this would mean racers do not have to go to Zhuhai or Macau to get on a track (and in turn, racers from other locations may come to Hong Kong to race), so there are indirect economic benefits as well. Jason Lim, Kowloon Tong Let's be realistic. The answer is no. Why? It's too expensive, plus it would be used only a few times a year. Where would the money come from? The taxpayer of course. Where would you put it? On some deserted island? There is one next door, in Shanghai, which cost US$378 million to build and officially opens for China's first Formula One Grand Prix on September 26. Some 45 minutes from downtown Shanghai by car, this area is already being developed by the Shanghai city government for the motor trade. Shanghai, only a few hours away, offers excellent facilities. You have to accept that Hong Kong is the little sister of Shanghai. Shanghai was listed No16 in a survey on daily cost of living, while Hong Kong was ranked No5 - more expensive. If Hong Kong citizens want to gamble, they can go to Happy Valley. And if they really want a track, would they accept the additional tax revenue? I don't think so. David Thornton, Shanghai Q What can be done to prevent the spread of dengue fever? We must not be complacent about the drastic increase in the ovitrap index; it is an early indication of a very likely outbreak of dengue fever in Hong Kong. Preventive measures must be taken by the government and the general public to eliminate all breeding places of mosquitoes. The government needs to educate the public, as most people do not realise the risk of dengue fever. It's crucial to address the reasons for the exceptionally high population of mosquitoes in certain areas, and warn residents to protect themselves from contracting dengue fever. Most importantly, a close monitoring must be carried out of all suspected cases of dengue fever, and information must be shared among all appropriate departments and the general public; this is indeed a valuable lesson learned from the devastating Sars outbreak. Terry Tang, Mei Foo Q Where should the mules go after the cable car project is completed? The Lantau Mountain Camp Residents' Association is the management company of the Lantau Mountain Camp. The camp is situated on a saddle of land about 610 metres above sea level and outside the country parks, between Sunset Peak and Yi Tung Shan on Lantau. There is no road access, and the mood of the association is to keep it that way. In the summer of every year, we employ people to resupply the camp from Silvermine Bay with heavy stores. As time passed, the difficulties in recruiting carriers has made this job increasingly difficult to do, but not impossible. The association intends to continue employing human carriers, but it might be interested in co-operating with the mule owners either as to the provision of work or, for that matter, as to the provision of grazing. There is an unlimited amount of grass on the saddle and readily available water. Rupert Spicer, company secretary, Lantau Mountain Camp Residents Association Q Should the government press ahead with its super-jail plan? The decision to build a prison on Hei Ling Chau has been described by the government as the most environmentally friendly option. I wonder if officials could explain exactly what they mean by this. The plan is to reclaim 80 hectares of land from the sea next to Hei Ling Chau. This in itself means the total destruction of all ecosystems within that area and untold detrimental effects upon the neighbouring marine life, not only while construction is carried out, but for the whole life of the prison insofar as sewage and other waste products will no doubt be dumped into the sea. The reclamation will totally disfigure the small island. The facility will be a major blot on the landscape for the thousands of hikers and bikers who enjoy the magnificent views - pollution permitting - from the myriad tracks spreading out over the hills and around the coast of southern Lantau. On top of this, the government intends to build a bridge from Hei Ling Chau to Mui Wo. This will bring about more destruction and pollution while it is being built, as well as provide one more eyesore for the public to put up with. It will also greatly increase the air pollution in the local area, which at present has very little traffic. Indeed, Mui Wo has very small, one-way streets winding around the shops, school, and ferry and bus terminal. If the bridge is to take 700 vehicles a day what changes are proposed for Mui Wo itself? It is inconceivable that the roads, as they are at the moment, could cope with anything like that much traffic. So what does the government plan to do? All of this adds up to massive environmental disruption in what is at the moment a spectacularly beautiful area. It will cause irreparable damage to any hope of developing ecotourism on southern Lantau. It will cost the taxpayer a huge amount of money and it will bring absolutely no benefits to the area whatsoever. The whole project makes no environmental sense whatsoever and should be scrapped immediately. Donald Latter, Mui Wo On other matters ... I'm writing to express my concern regarding the rise in sea level of Victoria Harbour ('Risk of flooding has doubled', published on Monday) The observatory cited large-scale reclamation projects as one of the reasons for the rise, but stressed that stopping all reclamation projects might have only a negligible impact. Over the past years, the government has long taken the harbour as a land 'bank'. Another 23 hectares are to be reclaimed this year for the construction of a bypass to ease foreseeable traffic congestion in Central. However, scholars and environmentalists have questioned if this is the best solution to the congestion problem. Hong Kong first evaluated the feasibility of electronic road pricing (ERP) in the 1980s. ERP nowadays is widely applied in numerous world cities such as New York, Tokyo and Singapore. It drives traffic off the road by charging drivers during peak hours. The programme, appraised as more effective and efficient in the long run, outweighs the short-sighted solution of building a bypass on reclaimed land. Twenty years went by and today ERP has still not been implemented. Is our government going to wake up one day to the consequences of reclamation, other than the risk of flooding? It's high time that the government reflected on this and placed environmental concern on top of everything to make Hong Kong a better place to live. Kristy Hung Ling Yee, Tai Po
