by Frank Wilson

In my time I’ve had a professional connection with two of the world’s leading airports --Heathrow in London and Chek Lap Kok. Both have been, at times, the source of controversy and emotional dispute. Yet their stories are so contrasting.

A decade ago, I found myself in a theatre, near Heathrow, making a case for expanding that airport by building a third runway. I sat on a stage in a panel, with several luminaries, including the then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who at that time was stridently against any expansion. He had promised to lie down in front of the bulldozers if it went ahead. I was nervous on entering the theatre because I suspected it was a set-up – more like a rally for the opponents of expansion than a serious debate, with Johnson as comedic cheerleader. My anxiety was justified, for on taking my seat I realized to my dismay I was faced by a hostile crowd of about 400, all but a handful wearing tee shirts emblazoned with “Stop the Runway”.

I gritted my teeth and in the face of some bad-tempered heckling (but no flour bombs!) managed to put the business case for expansion. At one stage an elderly lady rushed the stage, and, waving some military medals in front of me, shouted: “You’re going to make my disabled husband, who got these medals for fighting for this country, homeless! What do you say to that!”. She was right, in that a local village would be obliterated by the plan. There was no answer.

Financial compensation for the loss of homes hardly made up for the loss of security and community. The cold national economic case sounded heartless in the face of genuine human distress. And yet…there remains a strong argument for expansion. Heathrow is critical to the UK’s long-haul connections to the wider world. Even more so with Brexiteers screaming out for enhanced international trade opportunities for “Global Britain”. It handles the vast majority of the country’s business travel and air exports. Until COVID it was already running at full capacity.

Dismally, the dispute around expanding some part of the UK’s long haul aviation infrastructure has been raging since the 1960s, when the first government report recognized the need for growth. Studies, plans and government papers proliferated in the intervening years. Prime Ministers Heath, Thatcher, Blair, Brown and Cameron have all grappled unsuccessfully with the issue, each eventually kicking it into the long grass out of political expedience.

Where are we now? In 2018 the House of Commons finally gave approval for a £15 billion third runway solution. But, in February this year, another legal challenge, based on environmental grounds, was launched, and the Supreme Court has just made a decision on the case in favor of expansion. We wait with bated breath to see if it happens. The fact remains: while other countries have been upgrading and improving their infrastructure, the UK wrangles and debates. We’ve built only one new runway since 1945.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world powers on, like Hong Kong developing Chek Lap Kok. What a contrast! Initial thinking began for a new Hong Kong airport in the 1970s, but the essential programme was that from serious planning in 1989 to opening in 1998 an incredible development operation was completed in record time. In just nine years an island was leveled, a platform built in the sea and an international airport arose like magic.

I had the pleasure of helping show international journalists around the site by boat, as the project proceeded. It was a great story to sell. The scale, ambition and speed of the project never failed to impress. Most of the Dutch dredging fleet (the Dutch being expert reclaimers of land from the sea) were enticed half-way round the world to help scoop up the sand on the sea bottom, so that infill could be laid on the rock beneath.

Naturally, the project had its opponents and difficulties. The political background was tense. The UK Government backed the project as a sign of its continuing support for Hong Kong, while the Chinese Government, for some years as 1997 approached, threatened to boycott it, potentially turning it into one great white elephant. However, problems were overcome. It says a lot for the ingenuity of Hong Kong that one particularly tricky issue was solved with imagination and sensitivity.

Having made the decision to flatten the island of Chek Lap Kok, it was realized that although no people inhabited the place, it nevertheless had a unique resident – the Romer’s tree frog. This tiny and rare amphibian, the size of a finger nail, existed only on Chek Lap Kok. With true compassion, the best zoological brains in Hong Kong were summoned to expedite a rescue scheme, which entailed collecting the vulnerable creatures – several hundred of them – and transporting them to the safety of a special reserve on Lantau and other places.

I still find this tale heart-warming, though my superficial research for this article revealed a disappointing fact. The Romer’s tree frog doesn’t live in trees, nor does it climb them. It lives in muddy pools in dark places. So much for the exotic!

However, it was inspiring for me to play a minor role in the building of Chek Lap Kok, and whenever I fly into Hong Kong, I am amazed at the achievement. I still hope to see a third runway at Heathrow before I reach senility, not least because I want to thumb my nose at the friend who teases me with the name “Champion of Lost Causes, but, also, because I look forward to seeing Boris Johnson prostrate himself before the bulldozers.

(The writer lived in Hong Kong for more than twenty years, arriving soon after the death of Mao and leaving after the handover of the territory to China. He experienced the seismic transformation of Hong Kong on its journey from plastic flowers and T-shirts to global front runner in trade and high finance.)

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play