 In the 1970s, Chek Lap Kok was a small island of 310 sq km, located to the north of Lantau Island opposite Tung Chung where we used to land on Army exercises. The original inhabitants of Chek Lap Kok island were a small number of farmers and fishermen, and their families. A primary school with no electricity or water supply was on top of a hill and consisted of just one classroom. The children living on the island travelled to the single classroom in which all classes were conducted. The playground in front of the school was of impacted earth, which flushed away whenever it rained heavily so, as a Community Relations Project, the Army provided men, equipment and material in order to build a wall along the side of the playground on the slope, to prevent further landslides.On a Monday in April 1972, Hong Kong-based 10 Int & Sy Coy provided a working party to build this wall, under the command of SSgt Lou Adamson, Intelligence Corps. A medic was provided by the BMH, a signalman came from the Gurkha Signals and I was included in the working party. Each person was issued with five compo ration packs and G1098 stores and the group was conveyed to Gordon Hart Camp at Castle Peak, where we embarked on an RAF Wessex helicopter. After six minutes flying, we landed on the playground of the school. After taking over bags of cement and sand, transported by the ˇ§Army Trucksˇ¨ (mules!) of 414 Pack Troop RCT, plus hundreds of jerry cans of fresh water brought by RAF helicopters as well as a cement mixer provided by Royal Engineers, we started our construction work, which we carried out from 0800 hrs to 1600 hrs every day. During the days we spent on the island, although we worked extremely hard in hot and humid conditions, we still had good times in the evenings. Under the kerosene lighting we played cards, like Sergeant Major and Chase The Lady, and sometimes chatted with the village representative, Mr Wong Yiu Nam, about what they needed and what we could do. I recall one afternoon a signal was received, informing us that I was promoted to Sgt and Ian Barrow to LCpl and a small party was held in the school that evening, which was where we slept, to celebrate the promotions. Over a period of two months, the 10 Int & Sy Coy personnel completed the project in a cyclical work system. By 1989 there had been a huge growth in both air passengers and air cargo into Hong Kong, and it was confirmed that the existing international airport at Kai Tak was getting to the stage where it could no longer cope effectively. So, it was decided to build a new airport to replace the old, and the site of Chek Lap Kok Island was chosen for this new airspace. Through removing the islandˇ¦s high ground and by using this rubble for land reclamation, a manmade 1,248 sq km flat area was created and a new airport with two runways built, one of the worldˇ¦s largest and most sophisticated international airports. It was officially opened on 6 July 1998, the original villagers having been resettled to the New Chek Lap Kok Village on Lantau Island in the early 1990s. After 25 years, a small island where fishermen, farmers and their families lived, is now renowned as one of the top ten construction achievements of the 20th Century. The Hong Kong International Airport can handle 35 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo a year, all due to the efficiency of the Hong Kong Government and Hong Kong people. |
