Academic urges HK$400m fund to save ancient well in place
Academic claims it would take only HK$400m to preserve the ancient structure in situ, not the HK$1.3 billion suggested by the government
An academic yesterday contradicted a rejected proposal by the government to preserve an ancient well in situ at the site of the future To Kwa Wan station.
Professor Edward Yiu Chung-yim, associate director at Chinese University's Institute of Future Cities, said that HK$400 million would make it possible to leave the well in its present location, instead of removing and restoring it near the MTR's Sha Tin to Central rail link. Government experts had said it would cost HK$1.3 billion.
Yiu proposed the idea a day after the Development Bureau announced its decision to dismantle, remove and then reassemble the structure, which dates to the Song (960-1279) or Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties.
The bureau believed the decision, the cheapest of four options, would reduce further delays to the project, which is already 11 months behind schedule due to the archaeological dig.
Yiu urged the government yesterday to set up a dedicated HK$400 million fund instead, or to allow a private company to take on the preservation job.
The government had ruled out the possibility of leaving the well in situ, saying it would cost taxpayers HK$1.3 billion. But Yiu said his team of specialists had projected that the job could be done for about HK$400 million.