Shopping mall wants to build Hong Kong's first zip line on The Peak

A shopping centre and leisure complex on The Peak is seeking permission to build the city's first zip line on its roof, after a similar project, planned for Lantau, was put on hold.

The Peak Galleria is asking the Town Planning Board to relax height and area restrictions so it can install the attraction, to be operated by Canadian-based firm Flightlinez for five years.

A zip line is an aerial runway consisting of a pulley suspended on an inclined cable. Users, propelled by gravity, travel down the cable by holding or attaching themselves to the moving pulley.

If all goes according to plan, thrillseekers at The Peak will be able to climb onto a 9.51-metre-high starting platform - the height of a three-storey building - hook onto a line and slide down some 120 metres to a landing platform 3.55 metres above the ground. Four cables will run between the two platforms.

It would be a "brand new, funny and sustainable sensory attraction to overlook Hong Kong's most famous views of Victoria Harbour from the top level", Greenheart, parent firm of Flightlinez, says in the application.

The site is already zoned for entertainment use, but the board must grant special permission for the construction of the zip-line towers, which will exceed the height limit of the shopping centre by about four metres.