Should urban development be given priority over collective memory?

Benjamin Siu, 16

St Joseph's College

A city is only as good as its infrastructure. Over the past decade, economic development in Hong Kong has outpaced urban development. Vital routes are congested. Gloucester Road, for example, is the main artery for Hong Kong-Kowloon traffic, but it suffers from chronic congestion.

To solve this problem, and many others, the government plans to extend existing transport solutions with a new flyover. This way, road users will have a second choice when travelling from Island East to West, and when traversing Victoria Harbour.

The government believes this feat of bypass surgery will be an effective, long-term solution to end our traffic problems. However, many of us think otherwise. The project involves reclaiming land from Victoria Harbour and pulling down the Star Ferry Pier and Queen's Pier. A part of us will disappear with the phasing out of Star Ferry Pier and Queen's Pier.

But we must love convenience and efficiency as much as we love our heritage. We don't want to lose our harbour, but neither do we want an increasingly obsolete urban layout. Hong Kong has grown out of her shell and she needs a new one. The city has only a little over 1,000 square kilometres available for use, and some of it has to yield to urban development, if Hong Kong is to retain its status as an Asian finance centre.

'No history, no future', says one of the slogans stuck on what remains of Star Ferry Pier. But without urban development, we would be history by now.