Only the right Harbourfront Authority can create exemplary public spaces

The government is consulting the public on the setting up of a Harbourfront Authority but both the digest and response form fail to address key concerns. These include a lack of oversight over the harbour as a whole; the lack of advisory powers over government departments; a lack of legitimacy in land allocation; bias towards commercial operations; and a loss of the public voice on the board.

Since 2004, we have called for an authority to create a world-class waterfronts. Now the shortcomings need to be resolved before the community and legislators support the proposal.

The government wants the authority to be endowed with large waterfront sites. Yet the vesting of land should be the last, not the first, tool in enhancing the sites.

To start, we need a strategic plan for Victoria Harbour and its 75km of waterfronts to justify the location of water-dependent land uses - especially the ones nobody wants: pumping stations, sewage plants, waste transfer stations, concrete plants, fish and wholesale markets, container and oil terminals, cargo areas, passenger piers, water sports centres, fuel stations, and police, customs, marine department and fire stations.

Next, the authority must develop waterfront plans for each district along Victoria Harbour, identifying land- and water-based activities and facilities which local communities want. Such district planning processes are not new: the District Urban Renewal Forum successfully brought together professionals, the government, district councillors and the community to envisage what was required to improve the livability of Kowloon City.

To intervene, the authority must have advisory powers to guide the government to invest in new projects, and steer works at existing sites. These should include road and pavement design, pedestrian connectivity, and cycling and dog walking routes irrespective of who manages the land. It should steer the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department so we can eat cooked food outdoors at restaurants and kiosks along the waterfront.

The authority must advise on the funding of such projects, irrespective of which government department has responsibility.