Housing plan for part of Hong Kong Golf Club would showcase Carrie Lam’s commitment to the people

Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and consistently ranks as the least affordable. Subdivided flats of about 100 sq ft for poor families have raised concerns about the well-being of our children, even as the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling features three 18-hole courses, with 170 hectares of land for about 2,600 members. Its total area is about nine times greater than Victoria Park.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor recently appealed for public understanding for her government, which has not been able to make more land available for public housing. However, there is no plan to make good use of the three 18-hole golf courses.

Perhaps we can make use of one of the courses for housing without affecting the leisure of golf club members. A recent Post report revealed that the club’s so-called Old Course by itself could provide 5,000 flats.

Of course that would not be enough to provide homes for the 300,000 on the public housing waiting list, but the government needs to demonstrate its leadership here and its ability to carry out the task to completion. It would be extremely disappointing, but hardly surprising if nothing happened, as the government is notoriously disorganised when coordinating among different bureaus.

There have been a few counter-arguments claiming that keeping the golf course helps Hong Kong maintain its international status. However, the UBS Hong Kong Open usually takes place on the other two courses, the New Course and Eden Course.