Outside In | Carrie Lam’s search for housing land begins with faith in her own task force. And it doesn’t end in reclamation
David Dodwell says among the 18 options proposed are several that can yield enough land to meet demand in the long term. In the short term, the priority should be to use brownfield sites and private agricultural land, and think outside the box for two more possibilities – redevelop Disney, and ask the PLA for underused military sites
Ask any moderately sceptical Hong Kong person what the result should be of the government’s consultation on future land supply and you are likely to get a wry smile: “The government already has its preferred answer – land reclamation. The consultation is just looking for the questions.”
Why has the task force been tasked to evaluate a marvellously comprehensive 18-option outline of Hong Kong’s land supply challenges when the government appears already to have reached its own conclusions? Especially when even the most basic examination of its options suggests that, in the long term, future land supply needs can be met quite comfortably without resorting to expensive and environmentally harmful reclamation projects.
If we have a genuine challenge, it is over short-term supply, and the price we are paying for 15 years of neglect.
