Planning board urged to reject technopole plan

Environmental groups on Tuesday urged the Town Planning Board to reject a government plan to build a technology hub at the site of fish ponds in the New Territories, warning it would cause damage to hundreds of hectares of wetland conservation area. Their petition came as the board began a second meeting on the proposed San Tin Technopole plan. Paul Zimmerman, chief executive officer of Designing Hong Kong, was among those who submitted a petition letter to the board. “We want the government to redraw the boundaries of the technopole and to respect the boundaries of the wetland conservation area and buffer area. It is a very simple request. These boundaries have been here for a long time, for a very good reason,” he said. Zimmerman said the area in question is of important significance to migratory birds and is an asset that belongs to citizens. Senior Conservation Officer at the Hong Kong Birdwatching Society Wong Suet-mei urged the board to reconsider the government's plan to use wetland conservation area for the hub. “The planning this time relies very much on a just approved Environmental Impact Assessment, but we think the report is the worst one ever conducted in the past 30 years, ever since there are conservation policies in place. We hope the board can examine the assessment under proper circumstances,” Wong said. Former observatory chief Lam Chiu-ying, who also attended the meeting, said the development proposal would undermine Hong Kong’s contributions to China’s environmental conservation policies. “The filling of fish ponds... will make Hong Kong the underperformer in protecting the ecosystem in China. Is the technopole necessary? Are there any alternative locations for building the hub? And why is it a must to use wetland?” The government says much of the land to be used for the technopole is of low ecological value and it will seek to avoid affecting the habitats and flight corridors of migratory birds as much as possible.