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Intelligent Route
Maintaining the tranquillity and garden environment of Hong Kong's most famous religious centre dominates the planning and delivery of the Tung Chung cable-car project. Built to transport modern-day pilgrims to the giant Buddha statue and surrounding temples, the cable-car traverses over rugged country park hillsides dotted with religious retreat centres. The cable-car system proves the best option for the stringent environmental and community requirements. Even more challenging to the project however, is the delivery process for the construction phase, most specifically the logistics of supplies and equipment. Rather than paved roads, heavy vehicles and two years of related pollution, a team of six pack mules and , when required, helicopters provide the necessary transport mediums.
Utilising this intelligent and sustainable solution demonstrates our value systems in practice. The use of the mule team and the helicopter for larger heavier loads eliminated the need to cut a new transport road that would permanently damage the existing landscape and foliage, as well as prevent associated noise and dust issues.
The project also includes management and training components in biodiversity. This new, holistic approach includes a set of management procedures and monitoring systems to prevent unnecessary loss in the ecological habitat and to re-use vegetation cleared as a consequence of project delivery. The programme reaches beyond the strict borders of the cable-car project, encouraging the protection of adjacent areas in North Lantau and the prevention of damage to rare or protected species in the park area. It also provisions the training of project employees to implement daily work practices designed for minimal disturbance to the local eco-systems.
While our choice adds substantial amounts to project delivery costs, we deem it a small price to pay against the long-term costs of intrusion into the community's goodwill and the natural park environment that the cable-car vista showcases. The process to arrive at this decision not only creates a model for local environmental practices in future for us, but also has fostered a new process for community and stakeholder engagement, the Sustainability Advisory Board.