The Great Heap

The Heung Yee Kuk has managed to make itself increasingly unpopular on a number of fronts in the New Territories in recent years. As the statutory body representing the interests of indigenous villagers—including many currently living overseas—it has secured the right for all native male descendents in the region to build a three-story house without paying a government fee, resulting in what many nearby residents see as rampant overdevelopment. Since 1983, its representees have also been allowed to turn their rural land into junkyards and container storage spaces, often to the detriment of nearby farms. But its latest proposal may prove more controversial than all the rest so far.

In a plan currently being studied by Baptist University, the Kuk has requested that abandoned farmland and fishponds be usable as dumping grounds for spoil from local infrastructure projects. Such projects include major works such as the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link. According to Kuk vice chairman Cheung Hok-ming, dumping the material locally would be much cheaper than transporting it to the mainland.

But critics say that such arrangements would be unnecessary, and that designated dumping sites and landfills already exist. In the eyes of Dr. Ng Cho-nam, a member of the Town Planning Board, “the proposal is just an excuse to prepare the land for future development.”

Ordinarily, the Town Planning Board’s permission would have to be sought for such activity, as it would essentially amount to a change of land use. Yet if the Kuk has its way, the board will be bypassed, and large-scale dumping will be given a free pass.

Cheung has defended the proposal by arguing that at the end of the day it’s only mud and soil that will be dumped, and not construction waste. Accordingly, all that would be required is a relaxation of the government’s current regulations limiting the amount of soil that can be laid on top of farmland to 1.2 meters high.

Yet opponents such as Ng emphasize that the “soil” in question—much of which will come from deep excavation for tunneling—will not be material in which anything can grow. Others are skeptical that the dumping will in fact be limited to mud and soil. It’s unlikely, they say, that the waste material from such works will be meticulously sorted and separated. In any case, the passing of the proposal is only likely to encourage dumping of construction material from other development activities. This will include toxic waste such as oil from machinery and paint, which can contaminate underground water or soil and flow to nearby farms. “Where there was once natural farmland we will have collections of material that is damaging to the ecology of the surrounding area,” says Edwin Lau, director of Friends of the Earth.