But the government has sealed up area outside the Legco complex
OWEN.FUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Sunday, 08 May, 2016, 4:07pm
A pavement broken up during the riot in Mong Kok in February. Photo: Nora Tam
The government has not used glue to reinforce pavements in Mong Kok in the wake of a riot there three months ago in which protesters dug up 2,000 bricks.
This method of strengthening pavements was highlighted on Friday when workers applied glue to seal joints between bricks opposite the Legislative Council complex – a move widely interpreted as a
security measure ahead of a visit by state leader Zhang Dejiang later this month.
The Highways Department said although it had not used glue in Mong Kok, it had strengthened footpaths in “many locations of various districts in Hong Kong” by using glue to seal joints or laying cement sand as a bedding material.
Workers glue down bricks outside the Legco complex.Photo: Bruce Yan“The methods are also adopted in other oversea[s] cities,” it said.
The reasons for doing so, it explained, included underground soil movement, frequent illegal parking on footpaths, cleaning by high-pressure water jets, and growth of grasses and moss.
“For locations with assembly of people, the paving blocks may [be] subject[ed] to risk of vandalism”, the department wrote, although it did not refer to specific areas.
Footpaths were also glued in Wan Chai in 2005 when Hong Kong hosted the World Trade Organisation Summit. The aim was to stop protesters, mainly South Korean farmers, from digging up bricks to throw at police.
While the government did not say specifically why footpaths outside Legco were reinforced, engineer Yim Kin-ping said the only reason was to prevent protesters from digging out bricks.
“It’s not a very commonly used method,” Yim said. “A puddle of water may be collected [where the glue is applied] if it rains. Other than that, there are no real disadvantages … except it’s a waste of money.”
Yim said should maintenance work was expensive as the material had to withstand harsh conditions.
But it was better to use bricks for pavements rather than concrete as they were easier to maintain.
“If a water pipe bursts, workers just need to dig up a few bricks to carry out maintenance work and simply replace them afterwards. But if it’s concrete, they need to break up the pavement and refill it with wet concrete,” he said.
According to the department, more than 1,000km of footpaths built by the government in Hong Kong, 40 per cent of the total, were made of bricks. Six years ago, the figure stood at about 700km, or 30 per cent.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1942251/sticky-issue-pavements-mong-kok-district-hong-kong-not-glued-down
