Country park living: Build homes on 'low eco value' Hong Kong parks, suggests Chief Executive CY Leung

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying yesterday risked the ire of environmentalists by raising the possibility of using country park land with low ecological value for housing.

Speaking ahead of an Executive Council meeting, Leung echoed comments by researchers from the Our Hong Kong Foundation think tank, who a day earlier suggested a review of the ecological value and purpose of all country parks as part of a wider strategy on housing.

But development minister Paul Chan Mo-po quickly reiterated that the government would not move to develop country parks before its term ends in 2017.

Leung said there were suggestions from the community that those parts of the 400 square kilometres of country park land deemed to be of low ecological and sightseeing value could be used to build flats.

He said he had raised the idea with young people during forums on housing, and suggested flats built on such sites could be sold to targeted groups, including young people, at lower prices with land premiums waived.

"So what do young people think about this suggestion? ... I think we can explore it," Leung said. "Land is like other resources. Sometimes we cannot have one thing to serve two purposes.