The express rail link project has fended off concerns about costs, the environment and resettlement. Now it has to deal with fung shui.
So numerous have been the complaints the controversial line will ruin fung shui along its route, the government has set up a special working group to adjudicate on them.
Since the project began, the Working Group on Fung Shui Claims and Removal of Graves/Urns has dealt with 14 objections, resulting in 16 claims for compensation. All but one have been accepted. But its approval of work to widen a bridge in Kap Lung village in Tai Lam Country Park has sparked a protest.
Village chief Tsang Hin-keung wants to turn a footbridge into one that can take vehicles, in compensation for what he says is the disruption to fung shui caused by tunnelling work a kilometre away for the line.
The plan for the 'fung shui bridge' has come under fire from a pressure group and villagers, who say Tsang is planning to build a columbarium in the village, where just five people live, and the bridge could be used to transport the materials into the area. Villagers fear they could be forced out because of what they say are Tsang's powerful connections.
The HK$69 billion line, to link up with the national high-speed-rail network at Panyu , near Guangzhou, sparked some of the most rowdy demonstrations in recent Hong Kong history.
