Two sites in Sai Kung suggested as country park extensions

Conservation officials yesterday floated two sites in Sai Kung as country-park extensions, after part of Clear Water Bay Country Park is turned into landfill.

But the two sites were just preliminary suggestions and had not been shown to meet the ecological and amenity criteria required for country parks, they said.

Razor Hill, near Po Lam, and Siu Chik Sha, adjacent to a closed landfill, were being studied by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to see whether they would be suitable additions to a country park.

The Razor Hill site covers about 50 hectares of mostly government-owned land zoned as a conservation area and green belt. The hill is mostly used by hikers and residents near Po Lam, and the land contains a burial ground.

The Siu Chik Sha site covers 20 hectares of mostly sloped land zoned as green belt, lying along the boundary of the existing country park. Next to it are some open storage areas for cargo containers.

Officials said both sites had only low to moderate ecological and amenity values, but they pledged to study their suitability further.

Department director Cheung Siu-hing told members of the Country and Marine Parks Board yesterday that the initial proposals did not mean the department had abandoned the policy of not compensating the country park for the 5 hectares it lost to the landfill.