My Take | Proposal to scrap Hong Kong tram service defies belief

The Town Planning Board dealing with rezoning and building issues is not the most exciting public department to visit. But now and then, there are such outlandish applications to the board that they get everyone all hot and bothered.

One is a recent submission to cancel the Central to Admiralty segment of the tram service to improve traffic.

The company behind the proposal is called Intellects Consultancy, headed by someone called Sit Kwok-keung. It turns out Sit was formerly a long-serving senior town planner with the Planning Department.

Go figure. Now we know the kind of people who work at the department.

The proposal instantly makes Sit pubic enemy number one, but he was brave enough to go on radio to defend himself.

He said electric trams served no purpose other than taking up large chunks of major roads and blocking traffic during rush hours in the city's main business district.

People wanted to keep the trams for nostalgic reasons only, he said, describing them as "moving museums" that should go.