We have a government that says it wants to preserve Victoria Harbour. Yet, it does not want to sacrifice the road-building that eats away at the harbour.
Our political leaders refuse to treat the Central-Wan Chai harbourfront as one continuous stretch of waterfront when it presents development plans. It will not acknowledge the large tracts of reclaimed land that could be sold in the future. It tries to justify the reclamation solely on the basis of a bypass to ease traffic congestion.
The government refuses to commission studies for no-reclamation or minimal reclamation options for the Central-Wan Chai bypass, even when community groups have presented viable alternatives.
The administration at one point drew up three 'options' for the Wan Chai waterfront via the advisory body, the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee (HEC). They had to be withdrawn, not only because the way it was done created the impression the committee was being used as a government stooge. But, further, because questions arose as to whether the brief to consultants had explicitly required them to observe the presumption against reclamation, as set out in law.
In response to that embarrassing episode, Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung told the public the bypass was needed because by 2011, it could take up to 45 minutes to travel from Central to Causeway Bay during rush hours - a journey that takes 15 minutes today. Mr Suen said the bypass would shorten the journey to a mere five minutes, and that this was an 'urgent' matter for 'Asia's world city'.
The reclamation and the road will of course cost many billions for the convenience of a five-minute drive during peak hours. Mr Suen claims that there is no other way. As for electronic road pricing (ERP), he claims Hong Kong first needs to build the bypass so that drivers have an alternative. The government refuses to release a full consultancy report on ERP completed several years ago.
