Public Urged To Oppose Govt's Kowloon Park Plan

Concern groups are calling on the public to voice their opposition towards plans to develop space beneath Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui, saying there are far simpler ways to improve walkability and alleviate congestion.

A public engagement exercise on the plan, which would see shops, parking spaces as well as underground passageways and community facilities built underneath Kowloon Park, closes on Wednesday.

A government document explaining the proposal lists overcrowding on the adjacent Haiphong Road as a key issue that could be solved by developing the underground space.

Designing Hong Kong and the Tsim Sha Tsui Residents Concern Group say the reason why Haiphong Road is so congested is because it is the only barrier-free link between Canton Road and Nathan Road.

Designing Hong Kong’s Paul Zimmerman pointed out that in order to cross Kowloon Park Drive further south, people are forced to use tunnels.

He said people hate using the tunnels, as they prefer to be on the street with greater access.

“You can see this; people vote by their feet. Everybody from Canton Road walks to Haiphong Road to go to the MTR station, people don’t use Peking Road, except for some tourists that get lost,” he said.

The groups suggest that a simpler and cheaper way to solve the crowding problem on Haiphong Road would be to re-open pedestrian crossings at Peking Road and Middle Road. Zimmerman said this would be very simple and take less than a month, with no impact on traffic.

He also suggested opening a crossing at Salisbury Road, but that would require a traffic assessment, and perhaps take longer.

The government's proposal covers an area of about 32,000 square metres – approximately a quarter of Kowloon Park. A multi-storey development underground would provide more than 50,000 square metres of floor space.

In a paper to the Legislative Council, the Development Bureau said two-fifths of this space would be given over to community facilities, pedestrian passages and

covered public space. The rest would be split evenly between parking facilities and shops and restaurants.

The concern groups say there is a greater need for quiet urban parks than for more shopping malls. They warn that the extensive excavation work required at Kowloon Park would see trees and vegetation stripped, and force the park to to partially close for many years.

"If you put in a massive retail facility, and you put in parking facilities, then you attract more traffic, more pedestrians to an area where you have clearly stated in your report that you have a congestion problem and a pedestrian crowding problem,” said Zimmerman.

“So it is completely contradictory to the objectives you have set out.”