Society for Protection of the Harbour Limited
(18 April 2005)
Briefing on Monday, 18 th April 2005
Presented by Winston Ka Sun Chu, Adviser
Thank you for inviting me to address such an illustrious gathering with representatives from so many leaders of Hong Kong Society.
The harbour is what makes Hong Kong Special. It is Natureˇ¦s gift to Hong Kong people. It is the name-sake of Hong Kong and the reason for Hong Kongˇ¦s existence. The harbour is the symbol of Hong Kong just as the Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris, Hyde Park the symbol of London and Central Park the symbol of New York. It is hard to visualize Hong Kong without its harbour.
Let us see what the Government had planned for the harbour.
The frightening thing is that, but for the efforts of our Society over the past ten years, almost all of these reclamations would have been completed or near completion by now. We would have lost the harbour forever. Hong Kong would now have only a narrow channel of between 800 to 1,000 metres wide all the way from Lei Yue Mun Pass to Sheung Wan.
The basic issue is: what is our vision for the harbour? Is it simply a source of land creation as the Government had intended or something to be preserved and passed from generation to generation?
The recent Judgment of the Court of Final Appeal pronounced that as half of the harbour has already been filled in, what remains of the harbour has become more precious and should be protected, preserved and treasured. This is the first legal duty. As long as Hong Kong has the Rule of Law, all of us including the Government must obey the law as interpreted by the Court of Final Appeal Judgment.
The work of this Forum will greatly influence the future of the harbour. As I see it, the task for the Forum is to help to plan the existing harbour-front so that what still remains of the harbour can be enjoyed by the community. To do so, we must all set aside our own interests and plan for the common good and for the future of Hong Kong.
This is the only opportunity that Hong Kong will ever have of creating a world-class Central Business District and a people-friendly harbour-front. We must not miss the opportunity. It will never come back because there should never be any more reclamation in the Central Harbour.
I sincerely hope that the common purpose between this Forum and Our Society as well as the Government is to protect and preserve the harbour as the most important natural heritage of Hong Kong for the benefit of future generations to come.
Finally, our Society wishes to compliment the Hong Kong Bank and its Chairman Mr. David Eldon for the brilliant initiative of founding and promoting this Forum.