Task force urges Hong Kong to use caution when eyeing country park land for development
Proposals must meet a ‘very high’ threshold should the public and the government agree to develop country park land to curb Hong Kong’s housing shortage
Developing Hong Kong’s protected country parks for housing will have to meet a “very high” threshold, an advisory committee warned on Tuesday, urging the government to “proceed with caution”.
The government-appointed Task Force on Land Supply said all members recognised that country parks are “invaluable assets”.
“There were about 13 million people that frequented the 24 country parks last year. We recognise that if we are going to develop the fringes of country parks, particularly in areas where ecological values are of lesser importance, then the [government] must proceed with caution,” task force chairman Stanley Wong Yuen-fai said at the task force’s meeting.
Wong said there was a “very high” threshold the proposal had to meet should the public and the government agree to develop country park land to curb Hong Kong’s housing shortage.
That includes establishing land to be developed has relatively low ecological value, making sure all alternatives to country park land have been exhausted, and identifying measures, if any, to make up for ecological losses.