The government's advisory body on country-park policies will discuss in the coming month whether land should be added to the Clear Water Bay Country Park to compensate for 5 hectares lost to an extension of the Tseung Kwan O landfill.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said yesterday that the Country and Marine Parks Board would hold a meeting to listen to objections by groups or individuals, then make a recommendation to the Executive Council.
Green groups that had been objecting to the extension have switched to seeking additional land for compensation after realising the plan is likely to go ahead anyway.
By yesterday, three days before public consultation was due to end, the department had received 967 opinions, many of them objections.
Six major groups - the Conservancy Association, Friends of Sai Kung, Green Lantau Association, Green Power, Hong Kong Bird Watching Society and WWF Hong Kong - submitted a joint statement to the department and the board yesterday, demanding that the government adhere to a 'no net loss' principle if it had to revise the boundary of a designated country park.
Alan Leung, senior conservation officer of WWF Hong Kong, said the government should find another piece of natural habitat with conservation value of equal or larger size as compensation for the loss of the land.
