Behind a white-sand beach on Hong Kong's most pristine stretch of coastline, surrounded by spectacular hills, diggers have stripped an area bare in the latest example of construction on private land on the fringe of a country park.
The land at Sai Wan, one of four beaches fronting the clear water of Tai Long Wan in a remote part of Sai Kung, is being developed into what owner Simon Lo Lin-shing says will be an organic garden but what local villagers say will be a private lodge with artificial ponds, a tennis court and separate apartment.
Lo paid more than HK$16 million to the owners of an abandoned village to acquire the remote site, estimated at 10,000 square metres, that is surrounded by, but is not part of, the Sai Kung East Country Park. It is accessible only on foot or by boat.
The businessman, who controls two listed companies with a combined market value of more than HK$17 billion, last year bought up almost every plot in the village through his private investment arm, Vision Investments, jointly owned with his wife, Rouisa Ku Ming-mei.
The chairman of Mongolia Energy Corporation and Vision Values Holdings, Lo was so determined to acquire the site that he approached members of the local Lai clan who had emigrated to Britain.
Construction started early last month and the site has undergone large-scale excavation, including the removal of surface vegetation and diversion of streams running down from the surrounding hills.