[spaceman]

i decided to start a new thread because really it's a different topic:

Does anybody have any comments on Tseung Kwan O?

It's cheap and not too long a commute to my work in Wanchai (25 mins) , but many people seem to be discouraging me from living there. Someone told me that it has the worst air quality in Hong Kong because it's located near a landfill.

What's it like out there? Can somebody comment?

[House]

That's a lie. The worse air you can get is in downtown Causeway Bay. Oh wait, bad air is just everywhere. The rain clears it a bit today, but usually I keep on sneezing wherever I go...

[jgl]

If you want hard data instead of our supposition, you try looking at the historical information here:

http://www.epd-asg.gov.hk/eindex.php

[edit] Actually, scratch that. There is no sufficiently close station for TKO.

[fly]

TKO just seems far to me, out on the east and far from much of anything. You may want to check for services nearby, I did hear there were issues with grocery stores, shopping, etc. earlier, not sure if that's resolved now.

[discobay]

TKO has a lot going for it. Three MTR stations, bus depots and numerous routes in and out not to mention minibuses. The shopping centres at TKO station are smaller but those at Hang Hau and Po Lam are large enough for everything you would want. Wellcome and Park 'N Shop and Jusco are easily accessible. It's a short hop to Clearwater Bay beach, HKUST and Sai Kung. Air is not bad at all - I am susceptible to pollen, dust mites etc but have no problem living there. If you don't go out much and tend to hang around home then you may want live elsewhere but if you go out away from TKO (live working all day and partying in LKF or Wanchai or TST) then this is ideal; plenty of housing = competitive rents and a lot of new units to boot. OK where's my commission?

[cerberus]

discobay's right, TKO and areas nearby are fine. there's no diff between air quality there and anywhere else in HK.

lots of shopping options! one of the better Wellcome Superstores is right there in Po Lam.

Convenient transport and near to the hills...what else do you need?

only problem i can think of is lack of dining options.

[spaceman]

how close is the landfill from the residences right by tko mtr? Most importantly, how much would a drunken taxi ride home from LKF be to TKO???

[discobay]

Most of TKO is built on reclaimed land but then so is most of the Central to Wanchai waterfront and the airport.
LKF to TKO is over $100 (but you can pre-book for 30% off - and you didn't hear that from me).

[cerberus]

dunno anything about a landfill there.

taxis will be around 150-200 nighttime, i think. but there's always the
N691 bus for thirty buckadingdongs.

[Penny Chan]

I've done some research for a friend who considered sending her son to a school in Tseung Kwan O. Yes, TKO is cheap because it has 3 huge, and still expanding landfills (2 of them were full and closed). You can find the detail info on landfills in HK in the govt site at:

http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/misc/ehk03/eng/waste/7_5.html
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/misc/ehk03/eng/waste/7_2.html

There are a total of 3 phases of landfills in TKO. In year 2004, the HK govt announced that the landfill in TKO will be expanded by 15,000 cubic metres, to lengthen its usage by 12 more years.

In Nov 19, 2004, a research done by a professor of the Chinese University of HK (Dr. Yu of the Faculty of Medicine – Family Medicine) was reported in a Chinese newspaper. The title of the news was "The air quality in Tseung Kwan O is carcinogenic". Dr. Yu analysed 16 organic pollutants in the air samples from the landfill areas of Tseung Kwan O, and 2 other places. The result is that the possibility of getting cancer in Tseung Kwn O is 86.3 person per 1 million. The 2 other landfills have the figures of 75.1 and 104.95. (This news report is in Chinese. If you want to read the original text, drop me your email address and I’ll email it to you.)

Jockey Club and the govt have put in a lot of money to construct very nice playgrounds and grasslands (as park) just above 2 of the landfills already full and closed. But the toxic gases from decomposition will sip through the ground over time.... It depends on how lucky to you are in bumping into those toxic gases.