Under three possibilities the government has presented for the project, which it insists will alleviate traffic congestion, the road emerges from beneath the Convention and Exhibition Centre to ground level in a new Wan Chai reclamation.

It then joins the Island Eastern Corridor. One possibility cuts through the yacht club, another is an elevated road above the club, the third beneath it.

Timed to coincide with the review of Wan Chai and surrounding areas, the club's submission to the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee includes extending Victoria Park to the waterfront, and redeveloping the former cargo handling area beside the club to encourage water sports and attract waterfront restaurants.

The 111-year-old club's submission on increasing the harbor's vibrancy will be discussed today by the committee's Wan Chai development review subcommittee. This is the second time the club has sent a submission to the enhancement committee, following one in December.

Wedged between the Cross Harbour Tunnel and the water, and surrounded by spaghetti-like roads, the Kellet Island club is difficult to reach as an able-bodied pedestrian; worse still for those with prams or wheelchair users.

The 31-page submission includes an extract from a report prepared for Swire Properties suggesting ways to improve the public's waterfront access once the bypass is built.

The costs, funding sources, and consultation timetable were not included in the latest submission. Yacht club Commodore Inge Strompf-Jepsen and general manager Robert Bird have offered to give a presentation to the enhancement committee.

At Kellet Island since 1938, the club has ``witnessed extraordinary development that has drastically changed the Wan Chai and Causeway Bay waterfront and disturbed the local community,'' the submission said.

``It has therefore decided to become an active and vocal contributor to community debate on the reclamation of Victoria Harbour and expansion of Hong Kong Island. [The club] has been fortunate to gain experience and knowledge on various urban planning opportunities and constraints for the Wan Chai waterfront, and welcomes the opportunity to share this know-how.''

The former Wan Chai cargo handling area is used as a heliport by the Government Flying Service and for storing construction materials, but could be put to better public use.

The club suggests renaming it the Wan Chai marine basin, and urges the enhancement committee and public to suggest alternative names to Wan Chai District Council and government.

The cargo handling area and sea wall have ``significant potential for becoming a major focal point'' for the Wan Chai waterfront,'' the club said, adding that Sydney, San Francisco and Vancouver show what the waterfront could be like.

``In the context of presenting Hong Kong as a world-class metropolitan city, Victoria Harbour is yet to be fully utilized in the way it accommodates sailing craft,'' the club said.

``It is also poorly provided for in terms of public access to the waterfront.

``The `Wan Chai marine basin' concept might provide an opportunity to rectify this situation.''

The yacht club supports the Swire Properties plan to sink the bypass and the Island Eastern Corridor section and surrounding roads near Victoria Park inside a tunnel ``to allow the park to be reconnected to the shoreline.''

A tunnel would also spare the Wan Chai ``marine basin'' from reclamation, allowing the basin to host a sailing training centre, the club said.

The club said the community would benefit from a comprehensive plan to integrate existing and new facilities along the waterfront.

The club emphasized although it ``does not intend to derive any commercial interest from beautifying the Wan Chai marine basin,'' it is willing to work with relevant bodies to transform the area.

The Swire Properties report, prepared by engineering consultant Scott Wilson and transport engineers MVA (HK), said it would be ``extremely feasible'' for an artificial beach to replace the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. It ``would form an attractive and different waterfront edge to this area which will be linked by continuous landscaping with an extended Victoria Park.''.

paris.lord@globalchina.com