concrete

Hong Kong govt and tycoons little concerned with environment

Here's a letter I sent the South China Morning Post; an edited version appeared today.

Submitted by Martin Williams on 6 October 2008 - 2:35pm

Donald Tsang development

Here's a letter I sent the South China Morning Post, during the (ahem) election for Chief Executive.

Dear Sir:

It was good to hear that Donald Tsang plans to nurture an environment essential for our future sustainable growth and development. But I wonder if the envisaged sustainable growth and development is the kind that will safeguard our natural environment for future generations; or does it mean continual concreting, and never-ending projects and profits for developers?

Perhaps answers will be revealed through the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge project. This is within the Concept Plan for Lantau, which espouses "sustainable development". Yet, especially once it was decided to make the bridge road only, it instantly became an unsustainable project.

Submitted by DocMartin on 21 June 2005 - 5:54pm

Lantau Concept Plan meeting

A couple of days ago, I joined environmentalists from groups including the Living Islands Movement, Green Lantau Association, WWF Hong Kong, Kadoorie Farm, and Hong Kong Dolphinwatch, for a government briefing on the just launched Concept Plan for Lantau, produced by the Lantau Development Taskforce.

Proved quite a meeting, and it's hard to know just how to summarise. But to begin with, my overriding impression is: THERE IS NO PLAN! Nope, there's the word "plan" in the title, but the more we tried to look at it, the more it dissolved, broke down into a mishmash of various projects that are broadly based on the strategy to have development on north Lantau - where it appeared the highway to hell [oops, Zhuhai that should be] is a given - and "conservation" in the south.

Submitted by DocMartin on 12 December 2004 - 7:53pm

Lantau Concreting Committee, Hong Kong: Dispatch I

Good day to you. It gives me great pleasure to visit this site, to give a preliminary report on the work of the Lantau Concreting Committee - which, you must understand, is not connected with or to be confused with the Lantau Development Task Force. For while the LCC is similar in considering what should be done with Hong Kong's largest island, Lantau, and some of our goals are similar, we in the LCC are different. While the Lantau Development Task Force aims for "sustainable development", we are proud to stand up and say we promote unsustainable development.

Yes, no wishy-washy pandering to green groups or the general public, no shilly-shallying or beating about the bush for us: we see great opportunities for short-term gain on Lantau, and we're dedicated to making the most of them. Carpe Diem Screwem - Seize the Day and the Hell with the Consequences - is our motto.

Now, you may ask what do we know about Lantau - are we familiar with the island? Well, of course we know Lantau - we often jet in and out of Hong Kong airport, and glance at the island through the plane and airport windows.

In fact, one of our committee members even visited southern Lantau recently, and discovered what many of us had long suspected: this island is shockingly undeveloped! Yes, it's hard to believe in this day and age that the Pearl River delta region still boasts a sizeable island with monasteries and mountains, ravines with waterfalls, tranquil coves, and peaceful villages. We'll soon change that.

Lately we've had a few meetings in our secret lair, examining a map I picked up from the Hong Kong Tourism Board, and discussing how to carve up Lantau. And we've come up with a fine mix of projects.

Submitted by Visitor on 1 September 2004 - 3:02pm

HK Concrete n Conservation

Looking around Hong Kong, you might think there was plenty of concrete around, thank you very much, and we should be making a concerted effort to protect the remaining beautiful, relatively wild areas. Not so! No, the Kings of Concrete and the wannabe kings are queuing up with plans to build on or over some lovely places; and the government seems split between conservation (some sectors of government seem keen on this), and dreaming up Big Silly Projects.

Here and there, there are conservation successes, where some of Hong Kong's prime wild places are protected. But by my reckoning, we could really do with some strong examples of "eco-tourism" - to show that it's possible to make money from a place without wrecking it. Or even these last bastions will be despoiled, ruined obliterated, razed too. (Takes deep, meditative breaths before continuing.)

Submitted by DocMartin on 7 May 2004 - 9:12am
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