The District Office has told me that there will be a "site visit" to discuss the proposed "Improvement to footpath from Lo So Shing to Hung Shing Yeh", at 10:30 am on 19 December 2002 (Thursday) initially at the benches in front of 27 Hung Shing Yeh Beach (next to the Concerto Inn).

See the <a href="http://lammapaths.cjb.net/"> lammapaths site</a> for background on this project, photos and a map. We can expect to visit the actual path affected, and also ask about the pumphouse project and pipes that appeared a few months ago there with no warning.

Attending for the Works Department will be Mr Kwan Man-hong, Senior Inspector of Works and Mr Li Yiu-ying, Inspector of Works.

Come one, come all. It would be especially good if some Chinese could turn up, as they like to paint this as interfering greenie gweilo hippies versus deserving hardpressed villagers, when actually it's construction firms profiteering that is the real motivation for these wasteful destructive projects.

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More details later; but it appears inevitable that some "improvement" works will be done on the mid section of the path. They seem very set on the idea that it "needs" to be widened (for tourists -- though of course no survey or data was collected on this, it was just the opinion of the village reps who never come there either), which none of those who turned up agreed with. However they did promise to do works in a more sensitive way -- not putting up more guardrails everywhere, no shotcreting.

Some sections with erosion next to the path do need maintenace. But the long flat section on the hillside from the pavilion, one of the easiest parts of the path, is "too narrow" in their opinion.

I'm afraid that Fung Loi is due for another wad of cash for more concrete poured on the hillsides.

The inspector disavowed any involvement with the infamous pumphouse, that was the Architectural Services Dept which went ahead by itself and spent $2 million to despoil a huge swath of countryside, and made the main path rather more dangerous and much uglier.