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1. How silting could spell disaster for the delta

2. Pull down illegal village homes, says legislator

1. How silting could spell disaster for the delta
Gary Cheung, SCMP 31 December 2002

If nothing is done, a professor says, the estuary could disappear within 150 years.

The Pearl River Delta estuary may disappear in 150 years if nothing is done to tackle the increasingly serious problem of silting, a leading academic has warned.

Qian Zhaojun said silt brought downstream by the river's tributaries had reduced the waters of the estuary, or Lingdingyang, by 500 sq km since the 1970s. The total area is now 2,000 sq km.

He proposes building an 80km dam from Nansha to BaUi Island, south of Lantau Island and west of the Wanshan Islands.

The professor is a former vice-director of the Guangzhou-based Navigation Design and Survey In- stitute, a subsidiary of the State Economic and Trade Commission.

"The silting problem is particularly serious on the west coast of the delta," he said. "About 2,730 tonnes of slit pours into the west coast of the delta via Hongqimen, Hengmen and Jiaomen every year."

He said many mainland, experts had estimated that the estuary world disappear in 150 years if the silt flow continued at the present rate.

The professor said the water levels at ports on the west coast of the delta which are plagued by sitting can no longer accommodate large container vessels.

Professor Qian said a study on the problem, commissioned by a think-tank under the Guangdong provincial government three years ago, was completed last month.

Under the professor's proposal, which would cost nearly 160 billion yuan (HK$150 billion) and take 40 years, the dam could divert a substantial volume of silt to the South China Sea. As a result, the water flow into the estuary would be speeded up.

In addition, he says dams should be built at cities on the west of the delta, including Zhuhai and Zhongshan. A total of 800 sq km of reclaimed land, where ports could be built, would be created Professor Qian said the cost of a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai could also be cut drastically. He said just 9km of the bridge would cross the waters of the Pearl River estuary using the newly reclaimed land.

"The remaining section of the bridge could be built as flyovers. The cost of the bridge would then be drastically cut as construction of a flyover usually costs just one- fifth of building a bridge."

The SAR government has recommended a Y-shaped bridge linking southwestern Lantau island, Macau and Zhuhai. Its alignment is similar to a 29km bridge proposed by Hopewell Holdings chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung.

Zhongshan's executive vice-mayor, Lu Guoliang, has said he is concerned about the silting problem in the western part of the delta.

Lei Qiang, a professor at the Centre for Studies of Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, said the proposal would prove beneficial to the delta's ecology and economic development.

2. Pull down illegal village homes, says legislator
Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP 31 December 2002

A legislator yesterday called on thee government to pull down village houses built illegally on pubic land in the New Territories.

The call came after the South China Morning Post reported how thousands of village houses nay have been built on government land and gone unnoticed or years.

The problem was highlighted by the construction of a six-storey, 10,000 sq ft village house in 4am Hau Tsuen, Yuen Long, which was only noticed when IP Power complained that a lamppost had been removed to make way for it.

The site has now been cordoned off by the Lands Department.

Legislator Ng Leung-sing, who is also a Housing Authority member, said village houses occupying government land should be vacated and demolished once they were discovered.

"No matter if it is government or private land, it is intolerable and unacceptable that someone has occupied the land illegally. The government should take the initiative to protect public property," Mr Ng said.

He said the problem was a complicated historical issue created by unclear land boundaries in villages.

Rectifying it might prove costly and time-consuming.

Wong Shing-chi, a Democrat legislator, echoed Mr Ng's comments that the problem had to be resolved, especially when the illegal structures were not approved and posed potential dangers.

But he disagreed that villagers living in illegal structures on government land should be kicked out immediately, unless the piece of land was reclaimed for other purposes.

A spokeswoman for the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau said last night it would take action against illegal structures on a case-by-case basis.

But she declined to, say if the bureau would provide, more resources to do so.

"Action will be taken on a case-by-case basis and when a case is detected," she said.

The bureau also said it had taken appropriate action against the six-storey village house in Nam Hau Tsuen and was now investigating the owners' claims that the land was privately owned.

Since January, the government has taken action against 1,060 structures on government land.
There is no breakdown avail- able on how many cases involved village houses.