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SCMP Reporter

A developer will inject up to HK$120 million into a government-run environment fund to support the preservation of the dragonfly haven in Sha Lo Tung valley.  
The aim is to build a massive columbarium  with capacity for 60,000 urn niches, along with a nature  reserve and an education centre. 
The money will be added to the Environment and Conservation Fund if the plan is approved.   
The  niches will be housed in five structures to be built on 5.5 hectares of land deemed not to be environmentally sensitive  on the edge of the Sha Lo Tung valley.  
They will be sold to the  public by the developer, the Sha Lo Tung Development Company.
 The proceeds from selling  the niches could  run to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Work could be completed  as early as 2016, provided issues such as land lease modifications are completed. The landowner has also come to an agreement with local villagers that no small houses will be built in the area. 
'The HK$120 million funding will be provided before the start of construction and  will be injected into the government fund, instead of setting up a private trust,' a spokesman for the company said.
A person familiar with the situation said the proposed financial arrangement  via a government fund would set a precedent for similar projects in the future, though it might be less flexible than a private trust in terms of administration. 
A separate  and unknown sum would be set aside for maintenance of an access road to the area.
The injection to the fund is expected to generate HK$4 million to HK$5 million  a year in interest to cover the  cost of running the 52-hectare  reserve. 
A management agent, probably the NGO Green Power, will be chosen to run the facilities. 
The company, which has bought up   96 per cent  of private land lots at the site from local villagers,  failed to win permission for a  more ambitious development, first mooted in the 1980s, that included a golf course and low-rise villas. In 2005 it changed tack and decided  to collaborate with Green Power in a government-backed  public-private partnership initiative to protect privately owned sites of high ecological value.
The government ranked Sha Lo Tung second  of 12 priority ecological sites in terms of species and habitat diversity  after the Mai Po nature reserve, a sanctuary for migratory birds. 
The Sha Lo Tung development  is  expected to  have an  acceptable environmental impact on the sensitive site, home to at least 70  of the 116 dragonfly species found locally. The Sha Lo Tung stream is also a site of scientific interest where the endemic Hong Kong paradise fish is found. 
The developer will  restrict transport to the columbarium during festival periods and  prohibit the burning of incense at the site to prevent hill fires. 
The environmental impact assessment for the project is available for public comment on the Environmental Protection Department website until April 4.



HK$120m green cash from niche developer