What land shortage?
Is there an acute shortage of land in Hong Kong? It is perhaps obvious to some that, because of the high density of development, the city must be short of land. However, a quick search reveals that only 23 per cent of Hong Kong's land mass is actually built up. About 40 per cent is country parks, and the rest consists of non-country park grassland, woods and shrubland, agricultural land, fishponds and reservoirs.
According to government data, as of 2007, only 2.2 per cent of Hong Kong's total land mass of 1,100 square kilometres is industrial land, industrial estates and warehouse and storage space. This amounts to about 24 square kilometres of land, which may not sound like a lot. Of the city's 1,700 industrial buildings, nearly 1,400 were built before the 1990s - by which time, most of Hong Kong's manufacturing had relocated across the border. Most of these buildings are therefore underused and have been so for more than a decade.
This means that, if we had an effective urban renewal and regeneration policy, these buildings could be retrofitted or redeveloped for other uses. After all, only 0.3 per cent of our total land is used for commercial and business purposes - a very small amount for a financial and services centre - and less than 7 per cent for housing.
These figures tell another story: Hong Kong is full of high-rise blocks by choice. If less than 7.5 per cent of the land is used for housing and offices, no wonder we have to create very high structures. Many new residential complexes look like one tower has been put on top of another, and commercial buildings are now extremely tall, large structures. There have been a rising number of complaints in recent years about very tall, wide buildings creating a 'walled' effect that block views and breezes from other residents.
Two mainland academics recently proposed that Hong Kong could ease its land shortage by reclaiming waters between Lamma, Cheung Chau and Peng Chau to create 25 square kilometres of land. The idea is to create space for 'comprehensive development', and the aim was to stimulate discussion in Hong Kong on how the city might develop in the future.
Let's call this the 'development-by-reclamation' model. This is, in fact, a lazy development model. Instead of examining current land use and seeing how certain areas could be renewed or regenerated, the adoption of such a model would probably divert attention away from some of our severe problems, such as the blight in the New Territories caused by the rampant illegal usage of agricultural land for container storage; the failure to find ways to convert old factory buildings for other uses; and the inability of the government to replace the small-house policy of land grants to male indigenous villagers.
The government made a weak attempt at the time of the handover to deal with the small-house policy - an administrative measure created in the 1970s to persuade indigenous villagers to sell their rural land to build new towns, in exchange for land for them to build homes - but it came to naught and it has prevented better planning in the New Territories. If these measures can be dealt with, a substantial amount of land would be freed up.
It is estimated that reclaiming the land between islands, which would lie outside the control of the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance, would cost HK$11.2 billion. It would change Hong Kong's harbour forever. No doubt, some people will support such a project to create more land under the mistaken assumption that there isn't enough.
Perhaps what the two mainland academics have achieved is to help us focus on the shortcomings of existing land policies. Changing these will be very hard if we use the same mindset that created them in the first place. The first assumption we need to get rid of is that Hong Kong has an acute shortage of land. And let's not forget that southeastern and West Kowloon are only two of the vast but existing urban areas slated for comprehensive development.
Christine Loh Kung-wai is CEO of the non-profit think tank Civic Exchange and chairwoman of the Society for Protection of the Harbour
