Relocation Plan to Remove 87 Trees and a Historic Stone Wall in Hong Kong Park
The Harcourt Road fresh water pumping station will be relocated to Hong Kong Park to make way for more offices. With the construction project affecting 120 trees and a 150-year-old stone wall, concern groups want the government to consider alternative sites.
In order to build more offices in Admiralty, the government is relocating the Harcourt Road fresh water pumping station to the Hong Kong Park. The construction work see 87 trees chopped down, and part of a 150-year-old stone wall removed. 31 trees will be transplanted elsewhere.
The stone wall is a boundary wall of Flagstaff House, a declared monument that now houses the Museum of Tea ware. According to Katty Law, convener of the Central and Werstern Concern Group, it's one of the earliest British defensive structures in Hong Kong. The boundary wall was made by stacking together layers of granite stone. There are still holes in the wall, which were designed to allow guns to shoot through.
Hoyin Lee, director of HKU's Architectural Conservation Programme, tells Ming Pao that the government should reevaluate the historic value of Flagstaff House and the boundary wall as a wholem and consider the historical context.
Environmental group Green Sense opposes the tree-felling. It says in a statement that Hong Kong Park is the most important green space in Central district and it urges the govenrment to relocate the fresh water pumping station to a different site.
To mitigate the impact, the government will replant 87 trees and about 3,000 shrubs. It will also create a 270-square-meter grassy lawn area adjacent to the new pumping station.
The project will cost $740 million and will begin as early as the end of this year, if approved by Legco next month. It is expected to be completed in September, 2019.
The proposed office developments are part of the work-in-progress "New Central Harbourfront" project that runs from the Central piers to the Wan Chai waterfront. The fresh water pumping station is a key source of water supply to Central, Wan Chai, the Mid-levels and the Peak.
