Fair points, Chris. I didn't mean to have a go at you -- though reading my post again, it reads a bit like that.

My concern was that overplaying the relatively limited environmental aspect might undermine credibility later on when they do plan to concrete over somewhere valuable.

I agree that the project is a waste of money (though nowhere near as bad as building a new island for helicoptors to land on, rather than use the current landing place). There are many other projects on Lamma that would make more sense and would be much cheaper. Clearing up all those blue barrels in that area, for instance, or removing the many rusting mechanical diggers abandoned all over Yung Shue Wan -- not to mention dealing with the stagnant swamp outside Brothers.

So I suppose it makes sense to campaign against it. In which case, it is probably sensible to distinguish between the (relatively small) environmental issue and the waste-of-money/inconveniece one. I see that your letter to the DSD does do that, even if the Post article didn't do so very clearly.

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Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas

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I like my neighbour's house- it's right up my street.

You're more observant than I. I was hoping with this very wet spring/summer and no flooding that the govt had realised the silliness of the project and cancelled it.

April 2006 was warmer and wetter than usual. The mean temperature of 23.9 degrees was 1.7 degrees above the normal, the tenth highest for April. The monthly rainfall of 199.2 millimetres was about 23 percent above the normal figure of 161.5 millimetres. The accumulated rainfall since the beginning of this year was 301.6 millimetres, about the same as the normal figure of 299.8 millimetres.
http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/pastwx/mws200604.htm

May 2006 was wetter than usual. The monthly rainfall of 431.5 millimetres was about 36 percent above the normal figure of 316.7 millimetres. The accumulated rainfall since the beginning of the year was 733.1 millimetres which was about 19 percent above the normal of 616.5 millimetres. Affected by the rainy weather, it was also less sunny in the month. The total bright sunshine duration of 122.2 hours was 31.6 hours below normal.
http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/pastwx/mws200605.htm

June 2006 was wetter and cloudier than usual. The total rainfall of 469.2 millimetres in the month was 93.2 millimetres above the normal figure. The accumulated rainfall since 1 January amounted to 1202.3 millimetres, 21 percent more than the normal of 992.5 millimetres for the same period. Dominated by rainy and cloudy weather, the total bright sunshine duration in the month was only 107.8 hours, the tenth lowest for June.
http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/pastwx/mws200606.htm

Make-work project.

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Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like bananas

There's a new notice up about the WIP on the drainage channel "improvements" going into the harbour between Green Cottage and the Beer Garden:

That pretty little piece of sandy beach outside the Green Cottage will be used for construction purposes as a "works site" for THREE YEARS starting next month! This time has more than doubled since we've seen the last deadline of 18 months for the entire project (see messages above in this Topic).

One of the very best sightseeing, photo-taking (see below) and people-spotting points on Main Street will be used for the construction of the outflow of the drainage channel they're building right now from the Yung Shue Long valley to the beach. The notice was put up just before CNY, Feb 14, leaving only the usual 14 days for any objections from residents, till next Wednesday.

Here's the notice & map with all contact details for more info and objections.
http://www.compunicate.com/Lamma/Blog/YSL-canal/Map-3-years-4907-wp.jpg

If you live in Tai Peng or Yung Shue Long, expect major inconveniences for the next 3 years, as they'll be raising the road in all the red areas on the map. Anything planted along the roads will be dug under without compensation (except it's on private land and has been there for years.)

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Beware the fury of a patient man