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The Administration planned to demolish Queen’s Pier and Central Star Ferry Pier to make way for the Central Reclamation III project. The Conservancy Association organized a Mexican Wave Blue Ribbon Campaign for Hong Kong people to pay tribute to the two piers on 17 June 2006. In September, we pointed out in a Legco meeting that both piers could be preserved if the planned P2 road could be moved slightly to the north; The Legco Panel on Planning, Lands and Works passed a motion to urge the Administration to postpone the demolition. On 11 November, CA organized a red ribbon campaign to express our indignation as well as our determination to preserve the two piers.

Regrettably, the Star Ferry Clock Tower was demolished on 16 December. CA issued a statement condemning the arrest of Loy Ho, one of the activists who try to save the Star Ferry Pier.
 

 

The Administration said at the Legco Panel on Planning, Lands and Works meeting held on 23 January 2007 that a working group would be formed to work out ways to preserve Queen’s Pier; but on 27 March, the Administration revealed its preferred option: tearing the pier apart and rebuild it later somewhere else. Four options were listed out and the third option was proposed by The Conservancy Association. We suggested lifting the whole pier and moving it aside, and reinstating it after all the necessary works were completed. The Administration said that CA’s option cost about 130 million and their preferred option was just 50 million; the fact was that out of the total cost, 100 million was earmarked for the construction of the Extended Overrun Tunnel. But the tunnel had to be built sooner or later whether the Queen’s Pier would be preserved or not. The Administration was just obfuscating the issue.

The Conservancy Association wrote to Antiquities Advisory Board on 5 March 2007 that Queen’s Pier should be graded, we then requested the Board on 16 March that Grade I status should be conferred to both Edinburgh Square and the pier. At an AAB meeting on 9 May, Grade I status was conferred to Queen’s Pier.

The Conservancy Association campaigned against the construction of a temporary road cutting across the Edinburgh Square in 1999. From January 2000 to April 2001, we wrote to Transport Department, Highways Department, and Antiquities and Monuments Office respectively, asking them to keep the Edinburgh Square, the Queen’s Pier and the City Hall intact, so that they could form part of the historical corridor of the new harbor front. In response to the Metroplan, we emphasized on the importance of heritage conservation to a better quality of life on 11 March 2001. On 20 November 2003, we registered opposition to the planned demolition of the Star Ferry Pier and Queen’s Pier to the Legco.