Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

I've written on the topic of car access to Park Island for residents before and it is always a topic of interest, both to Park Island residents who prefer not to have car access (due to wanting to limit public access/noise/pollution etc) to Park Island, and those who prefer to have cars, due to both the convenience and the likely significant boost in property prices that would undoubtedly result (welcomed by owners, but no so much by those of who rent apartments on Park Island.). See:  http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.sg/2010/11/will-private-cars-ever-be-allowed-on.html I recently received an interesting "unofficial" update today from a senior Hong Kong Transport Department official that I will now share. As some of you may know, in the past, one main reason cited for not allowing private cars for residents of Park Island has been that the Transport Department had concerns about the effect on traffic congestion over the Tsing Ma Bridge and the Kap Shui Mun Br

This is the first of a weekly blog about Park Island, in Hong Kong. I am going to provide commentary on what its like to live on Park Island, and especially Park Island for expats living in Hong Kong. Ma Wan or 馬灣 in Chinese ) is an island which is part of Hong Kong. Park Island is  located between Lantau Islan and Tsing Yi . Park Island is part of the Tsuen Wan District. The best known beach on the island is Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach. In the last 250 years Ma Wan was a fishing village and until recently it was only accessible by boats or ferries. Things changes on Park Island when the Lantau Link was constructed in the late1990s which connected the new Hong Kong International Airport to the city centre on Hong Kong Island. The highway link passed through Ma Wan, and a ambitious plans to build a luxury property development were launched. The first phase of Park Island was completed in July 2003, and now phases 2, 3 and 5 have already been completed. (There was no phase 4, as 4 in an