Monster Wall for Yung Shue Wan?

We’ve already got a monster clock. Are Lamma-ites going to wake up one day to a monster wall?

Schemes for the reclamation of the harbour have existed in various forms since the mid 1980’s. In general people have been unconvinced by the arguments for these proposals and organizations such as Save-the-Bay and the Save Lamma Campaign helped convince the government at the time that concreting over Lamma’s harbour front was not going to be popular.

When the plan last resurfaced around 2000, extensive bilingual surveys were carried out by local pressure groups. The results were somewhat striking - 93% of local residents and 98% of tourists were against the plan. This negative reaction was covered in local and international papers. The plan foundered at the Environmental Impact Assessment stage.

So it may come as a surprise to many to find out that a revised version of the plan has quietly made its way to the Environmental Protection Department for approval.

So what’s in it? And what’s different? You can download the full version of the 2011 Project Plan1 plans from the EPD web site but here’s the core.

Probably the easiest way is to envisage the view from two different vantage points.

Standing on the gaido pier next to the football pitch there is already a rubble mound seawall (the area circled in red at the bottom of the map). Imagine standing next to it and watching the rubble extending along the bay until it reaches the Sampan restaurant.

Similarly imagine standing next to the Monster Clock (circled in red at the top of the map). You would be looking across a small channel to the rubble sea wall, which extends down the bay to the existing rubble mound sea wall. On your left the existing path would be extended out as a platform to the end of the concrete nullah over the top of the small sandy beach next to the Sampan.

In front of the sea wall would be a sandy foreshore feature to replace our existing sandy foreshore feature. Behind the sea wall there would be a path and a wide road stretching down to the gaido pier. Behind that there is a filled-in area of unspecified nature.

There are no heights in the plans but the government produces quality engineering to keep people safe. If the existing rubble mound sea wall meets specification then it is likely the new one will need to meet the same specification – i.e. the same height. The 50-year storm surge precautions in place for Victoria Harbour require a height of 3.5m, which is about the same height as the existing rubble mound. The road goes from the gaido pier along the sea front so it would be reasonable to assume that they would want to keep it level. All these factors point at a height about equal to the gaido pier.

So what would the views be like from local sea view restaurants? Well we can take a reasonable guess. The football pitch is what you might call ground level. The gaido pier is what we think the final height is likely to be. So the view from ground level would be similar to what you see from the football pitch. Many of the restaurants are a bit higher than ground level or are located a bit closer to the water. But even so the potential for an unobstructed view of the sea would not seem good.

There are also some small items featured on this plan that are worth noting. These are ones Living Lamma has noticed but you might see others that we’ve missed.

 

Looking at the area next to the Island bar it would appear that the new path goes straight through the middle of the Man Fung Restaurant. Also notably absent is the beautiful, though somewhat abused, tree opposite number four. And interestingly the rubbish area appears not to be present in this map, which means they have not used a current copy of the map.

 

 

Check the fishermans’ sitting out area opposite number three. No more sitting out area and the lovely tree they sit under is also gone. It would appear that the illegal platform has been preserved. Thank God for small mercies…..NOT!

Living Lamma are concerned about the changes which are proposed and about the lack of consultation with the community about matters that directly affect them.

Our concerns are reflected in local opinion. On the weekend of the 3^rd and 9th April 2011, Living Lamma polled restaurant and shop owners on Main Street. Many of those who were asked were unaware of the plan and needed some time to consider and formulate an opinion. However of those who responded 85% thought that it was a bad idea.

If you are concerned, we would encourage you to mention these concerns to:

The Rural Committee (Chairman Chan – tel: 29820350, email: lamma.nrc@gmail.com).

The Local District Councillor (Ms. Yu Lai Fan – tel: 29820976, email: yulaifan@netvigator.com). 

Write a letter to the paper or publicise these matters in the press. 

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