The government wants to ruin yet another coastal waterfront with a roadway. But is it really necessary, asks Pavan Shamdasani.

The government calls it “Route 4,” the proposed road that—if given the green light—will stretch along the Kennedy Town waterfront right through to Aberdeen, ruining the sea view and turning that stretch of waterfront into another concrete mess. According to the Transport Department, the road will alleviate traffic congestion and allow for easier transportation of goods to the increasingly developed Western District. But with many in the district preferring a railway system instead, is there any point in destroying yet another coastal waterfront with a highway?

There is, but only because the government insists on developing the area, says Paul Zimmerman, one of the founders of Designing Hong Kong, an concern group on urban development. “For example, if more hotels are to be built, they’ll need food delivered and garbage removed on a daily basis.

You can’t deliver those kinds of things on an MTR; you need trucks,” he says. 

The Route 4 proposal was originally put forward over 20 years ago, back in 1987, when the government was planning massive reclamations around Hong Kong. However, the plan was only taken seriously in 2001 when a Legco study revealed that by 2016, Aberdeen Tunnel and Pok Fu Lam Road would face major traffic congestion. The plan for Route 4 was met with a healthy dose of community outcry, headed by Designing Hong Kong. “People were fighting very hard back then,” says Zimmerman. Activist Christine Loh went before Legco to propose rail lines as an alternative. “There was progress in the discussions, with the government pushing the road, and the community pushing the rail lines,” Zimmerman says. “The government eventually agreed to develop the rail and now we find that the road is still going to be built.”

One of the new MTR rail lines will extend the Island Line to Kennedy Town, while the other stretches from Sai Ying Pun past Aberdeen to Wong Chuk Hang and Ocean Park. All of the train line’s stations will be located along Route 4, making the road useful only to delivery trucks but completely redundant in terms of mass transportation.

The community organizers, however, were able to strike another small victory.  “In response to community pressure against Route 4, the government developed two additional—and expensive—options,” says Central and Western District Councilor Tanya Chan. “The first option was a road through Mount Davis via Cyberport with only a partial destruction of the coastline. The second goes directly through the mountain to Aberdeen.”

The trouble is that neither of these proposals was met with much delight. “With any of the three options, Kennedy Town will be destroyed,” says Zimmerman. “In the end, they decided to keep to the original plan. We pointed out to the Town Planning Board that the Route 4 they’ve chosen is a route nobody wants, but the Transport Department has said that they want it, and the truth is, the community has no input.”

“The government is constantly destroying what once made Hong Kong a multicultural metropolis through constant money-grubbing development,” says Kennedy Town resident Armistice Hui. “Just look at what’s happening to Kennedy Town; right now it’s what Central and Sheung Wan used to look like in the 70s and 80s, but how long will that last? And where is our say in any of this?” Chan agrees. “We need an independent Town Planning Board with jurisdiction over transport planning to give us a voice and help to solve this.”

Of course, that isn’t going to happen any time soon. When contacted about the development, the government’s response was predictable: “[Route 4] will provide an alternative route to the existing north-south corridors...[and] serve as an additional linkage between the Southern District and the Central Business District, as well as the other parts of the territory via the Western Harbour Crossing. The Government will keep the program of Route 4 under review, pending any new developments in the Western District.”

The government is noticeably vague about its construction of Route 4, insisting that it’s still “under review.” But with an estimated completion date of 2016, expect planning and building to begin soon. “No time or cost estimates have ever been disclosed,” says Chan. “The government says they need Route 4 by 2016, so we can expect them to start seeking funding approval from Legco soon if they need to stick to this timeline.”

Zimmerman agrees, and says there is little time for us as a community to act.  “There’s currently no system in Hong Kong for the community to be able to say, ‘We don’t want more roads, we don’t need so many trucks, we can use rail lines. We’d like to maintain the waterfront and its heritage.’” We have to decide as a community whether we want to turn the waterfront into roads.”

Stop the construction of Route 4 by writing to the Town Planning Board. Email your views to tpbpd@pland.gov.hk or write a letter to 15/F, North Point Government Offices, 33 Java Rd., North Point. You can also voice your opinions by writing to us at letters@asia-city.com.hk.