Henderson Land's controversial and drawn-out plan to turn the wetlands of Nam Sang Wai into a luxury housing development looks doomed, at least in its present form.
The government said yesterday it did not see why it should give the developer any more time to revise its plan for the Yuen Long site, which was first put forward 14 years ago.
In a strongly worded paper to the Town Planning Board released yesterday, the Planning Department said it was not convinced Henderson should be allowed to renew the development right it acquired in 1996, which expires on December 18, when it still has not met all the planning conditions. 'The applicant has failed to demonstrate why the conditions could not be fulfilled within 14 years,' the department said.
'Growing public awareness towards environmental protection, including wetland conservation - especially heightened in recent years - constitutes a material change in planning circumstances and calls for consideration of the development proposal afresh.'
If the board, which meets today, takes the department's advice and rejects Henderson's request for a three-year extension, the developer will have three options.
It can ask the Town Planning Appeal Board to review the decision within 21 days to decide whether it can gain another three-year extension to fulfill more than 20 conditions - mostly related to environmental protection - imposed 14 years ago.