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looking for. 1.
Mainland thieves branch out into pines 2.
Objections mount over $629m proposal to widen Lantau
road 3.
Blinkered view on prison
1. Mainland thieves branch out into pines
CHEUNG
CHI-FAI and CLIFFORD LO, SCMP 22 May 2003 First
it was sand. Now police say mainland raiders have been stealing pine trees from
Sai Kung and shipping them back to the mainland for sale. This
week, officers from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department began
investigating reports that sand from three remote beaches and a sand bank had
been plundered. The probe was prompted after nature lover and physics teacher
Stephen Woo Yan-chuen wrote to the South China Morning Post saying he suspected
mainland sand bandits were dredging sand from Kat O Island, Wong Wan Chau and
Sai Kung Country Park. A
department spokeswoman said the investigation had so far come up empty. But
police said yesterday that Buddhist pines, found along the east coast of Sai Kung,
had been the target of mainland thieves since 2001. Police said the raiders would
sneak in by speed boats from Shenzhen at night and dig up their booty early in
the morning. The
pines, which are used as decorative plants, fetch a high price on the mainland.
They are highly sought after by property developers and graveyard developers.
Some gardeners
say wild Buddhist pines in good shape are worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Police last year
arrested 29 mainlanders for stealing the trees and a further eight have been caught
this year. The
raiders apparently take a break during summer because it is a bad time for replanting.
The Agriculture,
Fisheries and Conservation Department has been conducting joint operations with
the Marine Police this year to try to thwart the daring entrepreneurs.
2. Objections mount over $629m proposal to widen Lantau road
STELLA
LEE, Chief Reporter, SCMP 22 May 2003 
Transport officials
will soon seek Executive Council approval for a $629 million plan to widen the
only road linking north and south Lantau, despite the project being drawn into
the controversy surrounding the proposed Hei Ling Chau superjail. The
road project's opponents, who object on environmental grounds, have sought support
from the superjail objectors. The latter suspect that the planned improvements
for Tung Chung Road are designed to serve the proposed superjail on nearby Hei
Ling Chau. The
road project's opponents believe it will leave a three-kilometre "scar"
in the country park. The
Environment, Transport and Works Bureau said in a newly-released document to legislators
that it would seek Exco's endorsement and funding from the Legislative Council
in July for the road project. The plan is expected to cost $629.8 million - 37
per cent less than the original estimate of $1 billion. If approved, construction
would start in December and be completed by late 2006. A
spokeswoman for the bureau admitted that it was still working to resolve objections
to the road project, which was planned as early as November 1996 but was delayed
after some other improvement options were rejected because of the potential cost
to the environment. The delay had sparked protests from Lantau residents who wanted
a safer road as soon as possible. The
existing Tung Chung Road, a steep, single-lane road with sharp bends, is the only
access for vehicles linking north and south Lantau. Only buses, taxis and vehicles
with permits are allowed to use it. The
proposal comprises the widening and realignment of the 6.2km road between Lung
Tseng Tau and Cheung Sha to a two-lane road, including the construction of a new
road for the section between Pak Kung Au and Cheung Sha by cutting into Lantau
South Country Park and adjacent woodland. While
both the security and transport officials yesterday said the improvement works
at Tung Chung Road had nothing to do with the proposed superjail, opponents remained
unconvinced. Cheung
Sha resident Catherine Coroneos said in a letter to legislators that she felt
it was unnecessary to improve the road and destroy 3km of South Lantau Country
Park. She said
only three locations, covering about 150 metres at the south section of the road,
were dangerous and in need of improvement. Tom
Masterson, a spokesman of the Living Islands Movement that is fighting the superjail
proposal, agreed there was no rational justification for the road project. Some
members of the group will be writing to legislators to lobby against the road
project. Ng Cho-nam,
a member of Advisory Committee on the Environment, which last June approved the
project's environmental impact assessment report with conditions, said: "The
current proposal causes the least environmental damage among all the options presented
to us. It is acceptable with mitigation measures. But there will be a residual
impact, like damage of the landscape which you can't compensate. This is a cost
that you'll have to pay." Legco's
transport panel chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee said the road was too dangerous
as it was and needed improvement, but added members would also try to address
opponents' concerns.
3. Blinkered view on prison
SCMP,
22 May 2003 I
refer to "Does Hong Kong still need a superjail?" (South China Morning
Post, May 21), which suggests that opposition to the proposed mega-jail project
at Hei Ling Chau from green groups and residents of neighbouring areas contains
some measure of the "not in my backyard" syndrome. This
is manifestly not the case, as a glance at any map of Hong Kong will demonstrate.
The proposed mega-jail will in fact be in everybody's front yard, clearly visible
and in direct line of sight from numerous vantage points, including The Peak,
Lamma Island, West Kowloon, Tsing Yi, Eastern Lantau, Discovery Bay, Peng Chau,
Mui Wo, Cheung Chau, numerous hiking trails and from every passing ferry to and
from the outlying islands and Macau. The
proposed location could not be more visible, bang in the middle of a major tourist
"spine" - it is even in the "face" of Hong Kong's famous sunsets.
The issue has
opened up a lot of inter-related environmental issues such as land planning, sustainable
development, potential loss to tourism and eco-tourism alternatives. Yet it seems
in this case that the government is focused only on the issue of the prison itself.
Such blinkered views can seriously damage Hong Kong. It
is also astonishing, even scandalous, that both the Tourism Commission and the
Hong Kong Tourism Board have declared they have no position on this issue. Hei
Ling Chau and Sunshine Islands are beautiful natural resources that should be
used to boost our flagging tourist industry, but which government department will
now stand up to protect them? It
is estimated that the Hong Kong tourist industry and related businesses stand
to lose 42,000 jobs and $28 billion in revenue as a result of the Sars outbreak.
Yet the Sars outbreak has one silver lining - Hong Kong residents and local tourists
have re-discovered the joys and beauty of the outlying islands. The
government should focus on developing tourism for Hei Ling Chau and the outlying
islands, spending the $12 billion where it will generate growth in local tourist
industries. Where
there is a will there will surely be a way.
NEIL McLAUGHLIN, Lantau
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