Environmental battle lines are being drawn around the idyllic village of Ma Nam Wat, set along a deep inlet outside Hebe Haven, where indigenous villagers want to drive a 4km road through virgin country park land.
They are demanding the government build, and pay at least $5 million for, a road that will serve a community of about 20 residents. The village is now linked to Hebe Haven by a broad concrete path. A regular sampan service takes residents to Pak Sha Wan, on the main road to Sai Kung.
'I've been driving the sampan for 34 years, and nobody has said they need a road,' says gnarled boatman Shek Hing-sau.
Indigenous villagers, many of whom live in Britain, want road access so they can reach their home settlement more easily. A road would encourage them to build more houses and return to live there, they claim.
But the inevitable pattern in the New Territories has been for new roads to spark housing booms. New houses are then promptly sold to 'outsiders' for huge profits. As always, the government is awkwardly trying to bow to villagers without outraging environmentalists. A spokesman for Sai Kung District Office says it is 'currently consulting the relevant parties and public concerned'. 'We will certainly take into account all public feedback,' the spokesman said.
That may be difficult - people don't know about the project and are not likely to find out. Two days after a notice was posted on the village notice board, it was removed. It is an offence to remove signs from government notice boards. I asked if the deadline for objections, which was March 10, would be extended because of this sabotage. No answer was given.
Sai Kung District Office refuses to say who applied for the road. At least three environmental groups have lodged objections. So have individual Sai Kung residents, basing complaints on a waste of public money and damage to the pristine countryside of Ma On Shan Country Park. 'There may be a nest of rare white-bellied sea eagles in the area,' said Charlie Frew, a member of the Sai Kung Association and a professional marine ecologist.
