Reclamation receives ‘strong’ support as option to solve Hong Kong land shortage: survey

Proposal to reclaim land from the sea, often criticised as environmentally unfriendly, popular especially among people older than 60, according to poll by think tank

Reading Time:4 minutes

Reclamation work at the site of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge near Tung Chung. Photo: Edward Wong

Published: 4:17pm, 2 May 2018Updated: 11:01pm, 2 May 2018

More people, including a majority of senior citizens, favoured land reclamation to solve Hong Kong’s impending housing crisis than opposed it, according to survey results released on Wednesday.

The Our Hong Kong Foundation, a think tank founded by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, said the findings showed a “strong public conviction” for reclaiming land from the sea and the need to develop new towns.

The survey, commissioned by the foundation and carried out by Chinese University’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, polled 1,002 people over the phone in March.

About 45 per cent of respondents supported reclamation outside Victoria Harbour, while 33.9 per cent opposed it. The rest were undecided or did not have an opinion.

Don’t blame developers for land ‘shortage’ – government policies are the real problem

The survey also sought views on building more new towns, like the nine already built over the past 50 years in Sha Tin, Tseung Kwan O and other places. Among 62.3 per cent who agreed that Hong Kong should develop new towns to support its long-term needs in the next three decades, almost 60 per cent believed the city needed to add at least two new towns the size of Sha Tin, or equivalent to at least 7,200 hectares (17,700 acres) of land.