Community leaders hit out at temporary reclamation plan Government plans for temporary reclamation in Causeway Bay typhoon shelter are unworkable and will place intolerable pressures on its fishermen and boat dwellers, community leaders have claimed. The government has until Friday to appeal against last month's High Court ruling that found plans for 10.7 hectares of temporary reclamation work to build the Central to Wan Chai bypass are subject to the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance. It is considering the move. Experts say the ruling is likely to delay by one to four years the six-year tunnel project that was originally scheduled to finish in 2016. Unless the government wins an appeal, the ruling will effectively require it to launch a technical review of the project and consultations with the community. But the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter Mutual Aid Committee says the 100-strong fishing community should have already been consulted about a plan to move boats, reclaim land and build the tunnel. Under the plan, drawn up in September last year, the two ends of the shelter would be reclaimed first. Boats from affected areas would be moved out into a new mooring behind a temporary breakwater 420 metres offshore. Once each section was complete, boats would be returned to the area, while work proceeded on the next one. Other boats outside the works area would remain in the shelter throughout the project. Poon Kam-tin, the committee's chairman, said: 'This project would be the biggest disturbance to life in the typhoon shelter in its entire history. It is a threat to the future of our community. The government should have consulted our association. I am upset that they have not done so. 'The four-stage plan is not feasible. The boats will have to be moved several times and the dust and noise will be terrible for the people who stay in the typhoon shelter. There are about 100 people working in the shelter and 30 to 40 of them actually live here. People will not know their future, how many times they have to move and where their boats can be relocated permanently.' Leung Yau, chairman of the Triangular Island Goddess of Tin Hau Shrine of Peace Association, which runs the shelter's floating temple, said the government should implement plans to relocate the temple on land before any work began because worshippers might be at risk visiting the temple during construction. Lo Wai-kit, who runs the community's floating supermarket from an old houseboat, said the vessel was towed to the typhoon shelter from Shau Kei Wan more than 30 years ago and has stayed in the same spot ever since. 'I am afraid that the boat will break apart if they move it,' he said. 'If the government moves my boat, it had better relocate me on land.' Jennifer Chow Kit-bing, district councillor for Victoria Park, called on the government to release the detailed plans to Eastern District Council and to consult councillors and the fishing community. 'I think it is ridiculous that the government has come up with such a complicated plan that takes eight years to complete,' she said. 'There has been a tightly knit community in the typhoon shelter for more than 35 years and the government has a responsibility to ensure it is not broken up because of this project. They have to sort out a simpler and more feasible plan. I can't imagine how residents can adapt to this kind of disturbance for six years. Most of them are old.' A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said on Friday that the government had not yet lodged an appeal and still had time to consider the decision.
