The Last Harborfront
After years of delay, the government has finally revealed its unconventional proposal to develop the last piece of waterfront land on Hong Hong Island. But is it really what residents want, asks Winnie Yeung.
Since the demolition of North Point Estate six years ago, the piece of waterfront land the estate sat upon has been vacant. This 37,000-square-foot plot has been named one of the city’s last pieces of premium land, as it’s the biggest vacant waterfront site on the island. But for years its future has remained a mystery. That is, until a recent Planning Department submission to the Town Planning Board, which revealed a plan to greatly reduce the government’s revenue from land sales and set aside certain pieces of land for the public.
The plans contradict the government’s usual approach. For decades, development on both sides of Victoria Harbor has been determined by the government with one end in mind: maximum profit. Whether it’s commercial skyscrapers along the Central waterfront or the recent sky-high residential block in West Kowloon, development has carried on with little restraint, and has almost invariably resulted in more high-rise buildings along the harbor.
The downside to this kind of development includes obstruction of not just the view, but also of the district’s airflow. This is particularly true for the northeastern section of Hong Kong Island: most of the eastern waterfront is blocked by Island Eastern Corridor, a six-lane highway that has aggravated residents and harbor conservationists for decades, as well as numerous blocks of residential high-rise walled buildings such as the 17-block, 25-floor Provident Center and the 14-block, 27-floor City Gardens.
Stroll through North Point and you’ll find yourself sandwiched between looming buildings, walking along narrow streets choked with vehicle exhaust. Ms. Cheung, who has been running a newspaper stand for more than 20 years in North Point, experiences the pollution first-hand and has developed allergy symptoms because of it. “We’re trapped between the walled buildings, but the breeze from the harborfront and the mountains can’t reach us,” she says. Nearby fruit shop owner Ms. Ma adds that the air is so dusty that she constantly has to spray her fruit down with water.
Their complaints haven’t gone unheard. “Residents have been complaining to us for years,” says Eastern District Council chairwoman Christina Ting Yuk-chee. “But it’s not like we can tear down the buildings to start our urban planning all over again.”
Thus all hopes for clean, unpolluted air in the area fell on this vacant plot of land where North Point Estate used to be, which could serve as a crucial airflow passage. But for years everybody has been waiting to see what will happen to it. “The Eastern District Council has been waiting for the government to come up with a concrete plan,” says Eastern district councilor and landscape architect Patrick Lau Hing-tat. “But six years has been too long a wait, especially for a premium piece of land like this.”
There have been plenty of hiccups. Back in 2002, the Housing Authority, which managed North Point Estate and the land under it after the estate was demolished, announced plans to give it back to the government, on the condition that the government would sell the land and allow for 3,430 residential flats to be built on the location (with a plot ratio of 10). The authority would then take one fourth of the flats for their subsidized home scheme. Unsurprisingly, the plan for more walled buildings was widely criticized by local residents.