Medieval well may be moved from To Kwa Wan station construction site

Development minister Paul Chan Mo-po yesterday dropped the strongest hint yet that the government will take the cheapest option and move a medieval well which has delayed progress on the under-construction To Kwa Wan MTR station.

Chan, whose brief includes heritage policy, said in an interview with TVB's On the Record that the well would look similar to its present state even if it was moved and reassembled elsewhere.

The well concerned dates back to the Song (960-1279) or Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties and is one of the most valuable finds among an extensive trove of relics dug out of the new station, part of the Sha Tin-Central link.

While the government last week put forward a proposal to preserve seven other archaeological features in situ at a total cost of HK$4.1 billion, the future of the well was left open, with four options presented including removal and reconstruction.

"With today's technology, our colleagues can recover 80 per cent of its original appearance, which is not bad," Chan said of the option of moving the well.

This option was estimated to cost HK$10 million, the cheapest of the four possibilities presented to the Antiquities Advisory Board. Preserving both the well and the water channel in situ would be the most expensive, at HK$1.3 billion.