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The government proposes to develop a 538,000 sq ft, three-storey space with retail and parking under Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Shui. Photo: Shutterstock.

More pedestrian crossings, not more underground parking, needed to alleviate overcrowding in Tsim Sha Tsui, says Hong Kong development NGO

  • Designing Hong Kong says crossings would be much cheaper and faster way of easing congestion than planned Kowloon Park development
  • Round of public consultation closes on Wednesday for government plan, which intends to develop three-storey underground space in busy shopping area

Providing more pedestrian crossings would be a cheaper and faster way of easing congestion in Hong Kong’s popular shopping hub Tsim Sha Tsui, according to a plan floated by an NGO on Tuesday that aims to replace a plan by the government.

Designing Hong Kong, which advocates sustainable urban design, made the appeal to modify a government proposal to develop a 538,000 sq ft, three-storey space under Kowloon Park. The second round of public consultation on the proposal is set to close on Wednesday.

The organisation’s CEO Paul Zimmerman proposed setting up pedestrian crossings on Kowloon Park Drive at Peking Road, Middle Road and Salisbury Road to divert foot traffic from Haiphong Road, currently the busiest artery between Nathan Road and Canton Road running along the south of the park.

“This is very simple. It saves a lot of money and it can save the park,” he said.
Paul Zimmerman, CEO of Designing Hong Kong, outlines the NGO’s alternative plan for Kowloon Park. Photo: May Tse

Under the proposal, Zimmerman said, officials could open up Peking Road and Middle Road within a month with a maintenance budget.

“The government, if they want to, can do it very fast. Actually, they [already] do it. When they have the fireworks, they allow people to cross,” he said, referring to special crowd management measures during fireworks shows in Victoria Harbour at various times of year.

But he expected the arrangements for Salisbury Road would take two to three years because they would require more research and works, including one traffic study that could take six months and cost about HK$100,000.

The official proposal for the development beneath Kowloon Park is part of a government study on how to best use the city’s underground space to alleviate overcrowding at street level and add to an insufficient number of parking spaces.

The development, on an area covering about 25 per cent of the 13-hectare park, is expected to take three to four years if the underground spaces are built at the same time, or six to seven years if they are developed in phases.

The government plan aims to alleviate overcrowding on streets in the busy shopping area of Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Reuters

The spaces would provide about 9,000 square metres for community facilities and public-use areas, as well as roughly 14,000 square metres of pedestrian passages.

Those facilities would account for 40 per cent of the underground space, while about 30 per cent would be used for car parks. The remaining 30 per cent would be reserved for retail shops and restaurants.

Zimmerman said the government project could not solve overcrowding in the shopping district as it claimed, given about 60 per cent of the space would be used for parking and retail.

Designing Hong Kong also says that the government’s proposed development will also endanger trees in the park. Photo: Shutterstock

“You get more cars, you get more traffic, you have more people. But the government said the problem is congestion, then why do you pull in more people if your problem is congestion?” Zimmerman asked.

He said the project would affect a large number of trees because it would change the entire ecology and the water management under the ground at the park.

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“The moment you put concrete under it, you complete change that and that would impact the trees dramatically,” he said.

Mary Mulvihill, spokeswoman for the Tsim Sha Tsui Residents Concern Group, asked if the district needed more retail spaces as new shopping malls would open when there were already empty shops in the area.

Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Fung Chang

She said a car park had also been built without the approval of the Town Planning Board next to the Tsim Sha Tsui police station and the site could be used for building community facilities.

Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan, who represents the Kowloon West constituency, cast doubt on Zimmerman’s proposal, saying the proposed crossings could slow traffic on Kowloon Park Drive and possibly cause congestion for vehicles.

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“If you make pedestrians crossing roads the top priority, it will result in drivers being stuck in traffic jams,” Wong said.

She said the underground development plan could be considered, while there could still be a discussion of how to better protect trees and heritage at the park.

But she noted some residents were worried about how the planned car parks would affect motor traffic in the area, suggesting the government would need to conduct a study of traffic flows for future consultation.

Chris Ip Ngo-tung, chairman of Yau Tsim Mong District Council, added that the passages planned for the underground space could hold more people than the crossings proposed at street level.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Pedestrian crossings ‘the right answer’
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