Plan for Tai O sparks tour of Mai Po

LANTAU residents will be taken around the Mai Po Marshes to help them understand a plan to develop a mangrove plantation in the remote Tai O fishing village.

The Agriculture and Fisheries Department agreed to arrange the tour after hearing yesterday from Island District Board members about objections to the plans for Tai O.

'The majority of our members are not quite sure how the mangroves would affect the environment and its ecology and what is the value of mangrove planting,' said the vice-chairman of the district board's Commerce, Industry, Tourism and Environmental Improvement Committee, Ma Chun-tim, after yesterday's meeting.

A conservation plan for mangrove planting along the shores of the village to compensate for ecological destruction in Tung Chung caused by the new airport met strong objections from local fishermen.

They had asked the Government to build a boat anchorage, saying there are not enough typhoon shelters in the territory.

The chairman of the Tai O Rural Committee, Lee Chi-fung, said the committee hoped the Government would treat the anchorage as a priority.