In the concrete jungle that is Hong Kong, nothing can beat the appeal of grassy parkland by the waterfront. Who could dismiss the idea of turning the Tamar site and the Central-Wan Chai reclamation into a patch of green, free of buildings and criss-crossed by serene waterways?
The think-tank Civic Exchange's proposal for a Central Park, which encapsulates just such an idea, is therefore most welcome. It would give Hong Kong a harbourside park that would be the envy of the world.
The question now is whether it can sway officials to reconsider their plans to build a new government headquarters on the Tamar site, and to erect a 'groundscraper' mall, various commercial buildings and a web of roads on the reclamation.
That would be a challenge, but it should not be impossible to achieve if all are willing to strike a compromise. A major sticking point is officials' insistence on building a road on the reclamation to allow traffic to bypass Central and Wan Chai. The road is part of a coastal highway that is key to transport planning for the island.
Harbour activists are opposed to the plan, as they feel it would only be a matter of time before the new road would also be saturated with traffic - especially if the government built that groundscraper, which would draw more vehicles to the area.
What if we buried that road by building a tunnel beneath the reclamation, similar to the one underneath the old airport at Kai Tak? The tunnel would eliminate pollution from ground traffic and allow the space that would have been taken up by surface roads to be used as parkland. This idea is not new, but has been dismissed as costly.
However, if we could regard the additional costs as contributing to the creation of a park that would be a lasting legacy for the enjoyment of future generations, then the money would be well spent. Having spent billions to reclaim land from the harbour, the government cannot be blamed for trying to get some revenue back by allowing commercial developments on the site.
