Letters | New Hong Kong tunnel is fine, but what about the crumbling roads?

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam (front, in red) and other officials ride a double-decker bus to attend a ceremony to mark the commissioning of the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link Northern Connection, in Hong Kong on December 26. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:45am, 30 Dec 2020Updated: 6:45am, 30 Dec 2020

It was wonderful to see the photo of our Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and other members of the administration riding on an open top bus through the new Tuen Mun tunnel for its official opening (“New Tuen Mun-Lantau link launched by Carrie Lam from double-decker”, December 26). However, I think it would be more appropriate for our beleaguered chief executive and her administration to ride along existing roads across our city.

To celebrate a new tunnel is great but, when our roads and highways are in such desperate need of repair, why celebrate a new addition to our infrastructure when the administration has decidedly failed to maintain what we already have?

Ask any Hong Kong motorist, especially those riding on two wheels, and you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes our roads are even somewhat acceptable.

From an overly aggressive approach to placing steel plate sunken manhole covers as often as possible across the city, to a wonderful mosaic of hand-trowelled patchwork every 20 metres, to crumbling road surfaces everywhere, especially highway 7, I think most would agree that dirt or even good old cobblestone roads would be more appropriate than the embarrassing state of Hong Kong’s roadways.

Combine the failing condition of our roads with the horrendously poor drivers that plague Hong Kong – especially professional drivers who are seriously challenged to drive and use indicators simultaneously – and driving in Hong Kong might be comparable to running the gauntlet.

It really is time for the administration to repair this decrepit aspect of our infrastructure for the benefit of the people whom, I naively assume, they were appointed to represent. But then again, our chief executive consistently demonstrates a lack of interest in what the people might want and need.