4 th December 2006
The barrage of public criticisms over the recent statements by the Chief Executive about Hong Kong's air pollution speaks for itself. Despite the Government's denial, Hong Kong's air quality has deteriorated to such an extent that the health and well-being of its residents are gravely threatened. Does the Government bear any responsibility for our present plight?
Victoria Harbour is the city lung of Hong Kong. The harbour ventilates our city as it enables a free flow of fresh air to remove the foul air generated by motor vehicles, air conditioners, factory emissions and the carbon dioxide that we all breathe out. While it is hard to imagine that anyone would want to deliberately cut out half of his own lung, yet half of our city lung has already been cut off as the Government has reclaimed half of our harbour.
To make matters worse, the result of reclamation is more high-rise developments, more roads, more traffic and more people. Therefore on top of blocking the free flow of wind and air, reclamation results in more air pollution being generated. Furthermore, the toxic fumes emitted from motor vehicles, being heavier than air, are trapped between the tall buildings especially where large podia have been constructed as is now being planned for the Tamar Site.
What is alarming is that, despite local and international condemnation of the air quality in Central, the Government has submitted plans to the Town Planning Board and has successfully persuaded the Board to permit the development of a further six pieces of land on the Central Reclamation totalling more than one million square feet. These have been approved for commercial, office and hotel use and will produce 10 million sq.ft. of gross floor area including a ‘ground-scraper' and two new hotels of 28 storeys in height standing right on the Central harbourfront.
It is estimated that such developments will attract a further 50,000 people to Central. According to the Traffic Report prepared by the Transport Department, these developments will generate an additional 7,623 vehicular trips per hour to Central and will require building a new surface highway called ‘P2' to serve these developments in addition to the underground Central-Wanchai Bypass now under construction.
According to another report from the Government's traffic experts, the traffic in Central and Wanchai will be saturated in 2016, soon after completion of the Central-Wanchai bypass. The Government will then be obliged to consider both the introduction of an Electronic Road Pricing System and/or further reclamation to relieve traffic congestion. The whole vicious cycle will then be repeated once again.
It is amazing that the Government's present development plan for the Central Reclamation directly contradicts what it had informed the High Court under oath: that the Central Reclamation complied with the ‘overriding public need' test prescribed by the Court of Final Appeal because it was needed for the construction of the Central-Wanchai Bypass for the relief of traffic congestion.
On the contrary, by the Government's own admissions, such developments will attract more traffic to Central and will worsen both traffic congestion and the air quality. While they may benefit the Government's coffers, how could they be for an ‘overriding public need'?
Therefore the recent show of support for the Clean Air Charter by the Chief Executive is meaningless because Government itself is the perpetrator of Hong Kong's worsening air pollution. What Hong Kong urgently needs from the Government is not words of comfort but concrete action.
The Government should be aware of the following formula and cease all polluting activities including more harbour reclamation:-
“ More reclamation = more developments = more people = more traffic = more pollution ”
The Government should immediately abandon its plans for more property developments on the Central Reclamation, West Kowloon Reclamation, Kai Tak and other harbourfront areas and should instead plan for more green open space both for public enjoyment and improvement of the air quality.
The Government must demonstrate that it has the vision, wisdom and maturity necessary to properly plan Hong Kong's future development. It must move away from the blinkered and myopic obsession with financial return and economic growth and give priority to what the public now desperately needs: a healthy environment and a good quality of life.
Winston K.S. Chu
Visiting Professor,
Bartlett School of Planning,
University College London,
Adviser,
Society for Protection of the Harbour