Opposition to creating a ‘metropolis’ in Hong Kong’s Lantau must be heard
Tom Yam says public opinion on the contentious HK$400 billion Lantau new town plan must be separately analysed and publicised, and not lumped with general 2030 Plus concepts, as Hong Kong’s taxpayers deserve more transparency
The Hong Kong government has been putting on performances called “public consultations” for years. These costly road shows are increasingly seen by the people as pro forma exercises, as many believe neither the methodology nor the results makes any difference to government decision-making.
Hong Kong people, whose taxes pay for public consultations, deserve more transparency, especially where projects will incur major capital investment.
The choreography of consultations generally works like this: public support for long-term, benign concepts is publicised, while opposition to near-term, specific and controversial projects is downplayed or ignored. Public support for the former is then extended to cover the latter. Yet, it is these specific projects that have huge long-term implications. For example, in the 2011 consultation on strategic land supply, the government claimed “broad support for the six-pronged approach for enhancing land supply”, omitting the fact of broad opposition to the approach of land reclamation as one of the six prongs.
After last year’s public consultation on the future of Lantau, the government claimed general support for its development plan, ignoring the fact that more respondents opposed specifically the construction of the East Lantau Metropolis than supported it.
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During the six-month public consultation on the 2030 Plus plan, the government received public feedback during 250 meetings. There were three public hearings with big audiences; eight topical discussion sessions; 140 briefings and guided tours in exhibition halls; a public hearing by the Legislative Council’s development panel; presentations to the 18 district councils, and discussions with over 160 non-governmental organisations, think tanks, concern groups, business and professional entities, and so on. More than 4,000 government-issued survey forms were submitted online and in paper format. Also, thousands of individuals and organisations submitted petitions on various aspects of the 2030 Plus plan.
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Given its scale and impact, public feedback on the East Lantau Metropolis should not be swept under the general concepts in the 2030 Plus plan, but analysed as a separate category, and the findings presented in detail to the public.
Tom Yam is a Hong Kong-based management consultant. He holds a doctorate in electrical engineering and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania