BMX park approved with safety conditions

The Transport Department has approved a proposed bicycle motocross training and competition facility after measures forbidding users from riding bicycles to the site were suggested.

Under a new proposal by the Hong Kong Cycling Association, riders must either use BMX bicycles provided by the park or use vehicles to transport their own bicycles there. Anyone wanting to use the facility must complete a half-day course and pass a test to obtain a track pass.

The measures were to discourage park users from riding their bicycles to the Kwai Chung site. The Transport Department said riding to the venue would be dangerous as there were no designated bicycle routes in the area, and it was an industrial district with many heavy goods vehicles on the roads.

In a Town Planning Board paper yesterday, both the Planning Department and Transport Department endorsed the project. 'The traffic management plan - including the monitoring, surveillance and enforcement action to be taken against park users riding to and from the proposed park - should be submitted and implemented to the satisfaction of the department,' the Transport Department said in the paper.

Last year, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen envisioned the building of a BMX facility in his policy address to boost the hopes of a Hong Kong cycling team. BMX will be an Olympic medal sport for the first time next year in Beijing.