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Discovery Bay (DB, Chinese: 愉景灣) is a mixed, primarily residential, development consisting of upmarket residential development and private and public recreational facilities in Hong Kong. It is situated on the north-eastern coast of Lantau Island in the New Territories. The development spans an area of 650 hectares (1,600 acres), and includes two bays, the Tai Pak Bay (大白灣) and Yi Pak Bay (二白灣).

The 2011 census recorded 12,258 people living at DB; the developers said there were around 18,000 residents in mid-2011 with a sizeable community of expatriates from over thirty countries. DB is located 2 km west of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and approximately 12 km west from the nearest point on Hong Kong Island.

DB currently (April 2009) consists of 14 residential development phases with properties ranging from garden houses to high-rise towers of up to 24 storeys. The development also features a 400-metre-long privately owned beach (accessible to the public but no lifeguards present), four private membership clubs including a golf club and a marina club and a public park (Siena Central Park). The absence of public recreational facilities is a bone of discontent with the residents especially in view of the fact that the developer has an outstanding obligation to provide 300,000 square metres of such facilities as part of the original plan.

Though DB is considered in Hong Kong to be a low-density development due to the amount of open spaces (as measured by the plot to development ratio of 0.12), DB is however the second most populous district (after the New Town of Tung Chung) on the sparsely populated Lantau Island. Pets are allowed in Discovery Bay.

History

DB's origin can be traced to the establishment, in May 1973, of the Hong Kong Resort Company Limited(HKR), by the wealthy shipowner & shipping agent Edward Wong Wing-cheung, of Kennedy Road, Hong Kong, followed by years of planning and negotiation finally culminating in the Master Plan sealed in December 1975 between HKR and the Hong Kong government. By New Grant No. 6122 of 10 September 1976, HKR agreed to surrender title to 800 Hong Kong properties, in total amounting to over 6.6 million square feet of New Territories agricultural land and buildings, in exchange for ten times that area at Discovery Bay. The plan called for development, on Lot 385 at Tai Pak Wan, of "membership club houses and a leisure resort and associated facilities which shall include an hotel or hotels ... a cable-car system ... and a non-membership golf course ..." In addition, HKR handed over HK$61.5 million in exchange for the grant and undertook to spend no less than another HK$600 million on development (excluding site formation costs) within 10 years of the grant.

Within months, however, Wong had got into great financial difficulty, personally facing a writ, filed in Hong Kong on 1 April 1977, by the Soviet-government controlled Moscow Narodny Bank Limited for return of US$7 million advanced in 1973 and, in the guise of his Panamanian bank holding company, Paclantic Financing Co., Inc., (HKR's majority shareholder) facing the same creditor demanding US$22.12 million in proceedings in Panama. Both the Chinese and British governments were concerned to prevent the property rights in the single largest piece of privately controlled land in Hong Kong falling into the hands of the Russian bank during times of deepening political uncertainty for Hong Kong, so the then Secretary for the New Territories, Sir David Akers-Jones, led the government's efforts to avert that forbidding prospect, steering HKR into the hands of the Beijing-friendly Cha Chi-ming. Having lost control of HKR and facing bankruptcy proceedings, Wong had long since left Hong Kong, in January 1977. while mooting the establishment of a Pacific Atlantic Bank of Miami and going into the casino business with the Anderson group of whom one Robert B Anderson, of One Rockefeller Plaza, had been a fellow director on the HKR board. Anderson had been US Secretary of the Navy and of the Treasury, as well as Special Ambassador to Panama, but by the mid-1980s had sunk to running a phony bank and moneylaundering for drug traffickers, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment in 1987.

The Cha family, up to then better known for its exploits running China Dyeing Works Ltd, an international textile group, responded to the opportunity and purchased HKR in May 1977. By 1979, all debts were paid off and work started on the reservoir and the core infrastructure but for a very different sort of project – essentially a residential community offering a relaxed lifestyle. Years later, after the handover, this decision was revisited in 2004 when it was discovered that Akers-Jones did not seek approval from the Executive Council (ExCo) for the deviation from the terms of the Land Grant. In a 2004 report by the government's Audit Commission, the Lands Department was severely criticized for allowing this to happen, particularly since Akers-Jones did not call on HKR under Cha to pay any additional land premium. After retiring from government, in 2000 Akers-Jones joined the board of Mingly Corporation, also controlled by Cha.

Unlike other large Hong Kong developments, everything in DB was built with private money, including roads, electricity and the water supply. Even the government-operated fire and police stations and the government-aided local primary school were built by the developer. In such developments, the government acts in the role as an approving and checking authority, with development proceeding under an official Master Plan, version 6.0a of which was released in 2003, including the major extension in 2003 in Yi Pak Wan.

Transportation network

DB is accessible from the rest of Hong Kong via a road tunnel to the North Lantau Expressway and by a 24-hour ferry service.

All services (except Kai-to services) accept Hong Kong's Octopus card as well as cash. Half-price discounts are offered to children, senior citizens and students under the age of 18 on the external bus and ferry routes.

External transport

Scheduled external public transport services include:

Ferry services

• A 24-hour ferry service plies between DB Pier on Tai Pak Bay and Pier 3 in Central District on Hong Kong Island (journey time of approximately thirty minutes; frequency of around 15–30 minutes during day time, and 60–90 minutes from 00:00 -06:00). Current ticket prices (April 2009 http://www.dbay.com.hk/icms2/template?series=25&article=3606) is HKD$40 for adults and $20 for children for a single journey; with an overnight surcharge of HKD$13 between 00:00-06:00. The ferry service also accept single-trip tokens and stored trip transport cards (T-Cards and Octopus Card). Since 2005, ferries have been equipped with free on-board Wi-Fi wireless broadband Internet, which is unique not only in Hong Kong but across Asia.
• Kai-to ferries operated by an independent operator link DB to nearby Peng Chau Island (via Trappist Haven Monastery) and Mui Wo, also on Lantau Island (journey time approximately 10 and 20 minutes respectively)

Ferries were the only way to reach Discovery Bay until the opening of the DB Tunnel in 2000. Ferries remain the main way to reach DB and are operated by DBTPL, a wholly owned subsidiary of HKR. The route between DB and Central is served by monohull and catamaran waterjets manufactured by Marinteknik in Singapore; seating 300 and 500 passengers respectively.

Road transport

In 2000, a 2.4 km road tunnel linking DB to the North Lantau Expressway opened, enabling access to DB by road - and shortening the journey to other parts of Lantau, Kowloon and the New Territories. From the tunnel's inauguration, shuttle bus services ran to Tung Chungand the Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok, and shortly after the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland and the Sunny Bay MTR station in September 2005, an additional route between Sunny Bay and DB was launched, further shortening the time to reach Kowloon and New Territories. The DB02R and A both cost $35 and the other external buses cost $10 for adults and $5 for children.

The five external bus routes are operated by Discovery Bay Transit Services Limited (DBTSL), another wholly owned subsidiary of HKR:

• DB01R: From DB Plaza to Tung Chung MTR station (journey time approximately 15–20 minutes; frequency of every 20 minutes during day time, every 10 minutes at peak hours).
• DB02R: From DB Plaza to Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok (via Cathay City; journey time approximately 20–30 minutes; frequency of every 30 minutes during day time, every 60 minutes at midnight hours, 24-hour service)
• DB02A: From DB(N) Commercial Centre to Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok (via Cathay City; journey time approximately 20–30 minutes; frequency of every 60 minutes during day time)
• DB03R: From DB Plaza to Sunny Bay MTR station (journey time approximately 15–20 minutes; frequency of every 20 minutes during day time, every 5–8 minutes at peak hours).
• DB03P: From DB(N) Commercial Centre to Sunny Bay MTR station (journey time approximately 15–20 minutes; frequency of every 30 minutes during day time, every 20 minutes at peak hours).

Internal transport

Commuting within DB is done via a 24-hour internal shuttle bus service operated by DBTSL, which runs between various parts of DB and the Bus Terminus by the DB Plaza/the ferry pier. Travelling between the various villages by bus requires a change at the Bus Terminus. The same applies for residents not living on a direct connection to the schools, churches and most of the clubs. Yet, residents can use the hire car service which is operates as a point-to-point minibus shuttle service (e.g. operating on a basis similar to SuperShuttle airport services in the States). Residents can also drive their own golf carts or bicycles to travel around DB as an alternative. The internal buses charge $4.4.

Private transport

Private cars and taxis are not permitted to enter the area, with a few exceptions for certain agents of the developer, local businesses or for emergency needs.

A key icon of DB is the use of golf carts to commute from one part of DB to another. The number of golf carts is highly restricted by the Transport Department to a total of 500 vehicles and demand for golf carts can push prices up to around HK$2,200,000 each – almost as expensive as a brand new luxury car. The DB golf carts are petrol powered.

The presence of golf carts (with a much slower maximum speed than normal private cars) creates a safer road environment than many other places in Hong Kong, especially compared with the road traffic density in other parts of the territory. As such, DB has gained a reputation for its child and pet-friendly environment and has become a popular residential choice for families with young children or pets.

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Bay