The government’s latest proposals to develop South Lantau as a tourism and recreation destination are very much a case of better late than never. Proposals to develop South Lantau go back further than many of our legislators may realise. Forty years ago, my first posting in the government was as assistant district officer of islands, in charge of development, and even then we were floating some of the same ideas.
At that time, development opportunities were much more limited as access to the southern side of the island was essentially only by ferry from Central. There was a narrow winding road down from Tung Chung to the south side, but it could not handle significant traffic. The situation changed radically starting in 1998 with the opening of the airport at Chek Lap Kok, the development of the adjacent new town and the construction of the Tung Chung MTR line.
Substantial improvements have also been made to the road south from Tung Chung to Pui O, permitting creation of a much more extensive public transport network, though access by private car is still restricted. Bear in mind that, by this time, more than half of Hong Kong’s population lived in the New Territories. Suddenly, the effective catchment area of South Lantau became much larger.
I recently took a tourist bus from Tung Chung to Tai O, which years ago would have been quite impossible. So where do we go now on South Lantau? The main things legislators want to see are a costed indicative timetable and some speci.