The van that delivers the gas bottles for cooking and heating won't be able to get in. The truck that pumps the septic tanks will have to charge extra to use long pipes. The 16 people who paid up to HK$15 million to buy properties in the village since the land dispute broke out are among the many who won't be able to drive up to their properties. The Lands Department says its hands are tied, this being the New Territories. The Home Affairs Department says it can't build a road because some residents object. The Transport Department may consider building a bridge to provide alternative access ... in the long term. Welcome to Hong Kong's village of the jammed - Ho Chung New Village in Sai Kung - where the sole access road for 1,000 residents will be blocked for good next Friday. Get your cars out by then or they will be blocked in for good, the owner of the land traversed by the road announced last week. The route has been blocked several times since September amid a running dispute. 'This is very bad news,' Phil Cook said. 'I have two kids studying on Hong Kong Island. I am driving them to school and picking them up every day.' He was baffled on Tuesday when he learned about the deadline to get cars out of the village. He was not aware because the notice, put up last Friday, is written in Chinese. 'It's clearly ridiculous that we buy a property but can't get back to it,' Cook said. Everything had been fine since September, when Cook and his family moved into the village. Now the road closing means he will be cut off from his energy supply, since trucks won't be able to deliver gas bottles, Cook said. Nor will he be able to drive up to his own front door, like the 200 other drivers who use the road daily. He was furious to learn the issue has dragged on for five months - since before he moved in - and that he was kept in the dark. Neither his property agent nor his lawyer told him a word about the looming road closure, even though they must have known, he said. Cook was not the only one unaware the road would close: at least 16 properties have been sold since the dispute arose, property agents said. Homes there have been selling for HK$5 million to HK$15 million. Terry Chan Wai-tak, a 12-year resident of the village, said an access road was vital for residents' everyday life. 'It's not just about whether we can drive to the doorstep,' he said. 'It affects our normal life. It's a disaster now... the government can't shun its responsibility to provide us with an alternative access road.' The issue flared up in September, when a developer dug into the road to lay foundations for a house. The two-metre-deep excavation left more than 100 cars stranded in the village and a dozen jammed outside it at night. The landowner agreed to temporarily reopen the road after villagers' protests, and various government departments stepped in to mediate. Now villagers are angry that the government failed to find a solution over the past five months. Officials, meanwhile, offer little hope. Village head Cheung To-shing said the developer, Vampio, owned by Wong Choi-ping, had the right to build on the road. Residents should have known there was no access road in the village, as stated on the title deeds to their property, he said. The Lands Department says that under the small-house policy, there is no guaranteed right-of-way. The village is largely private land and residents must seek consent from other landowners to use the road. Cook rejects that reply, saying the law is outdated, and criticises the department for being reluctant to make changes. Cheung, the village head, said the Drainage Services Department had promised to solve the problem by building a new road for access along the Ho Chung River. But that route is blocked by a squatter's house, and it will not extend into the inner part of the village. The Home Affairs Department says it dropped plans for the access road after some residents opposed it. 'What's the use of the new access road if cars can't get into the village?' Terry Chan said. Meanwhile, the Transport Department says it will consider building an access road ... in the long run. And the Planning Department has been talking about a bridge over the river for a decade. The developer could not be reached for comment. 'I have no idea what I can do,' Cook said with a helpless laugh. 'Didn't the government think about access roads? The government should care about the residents. This has to be the responsibility of the government.'
