Opinion | Grand Lantau reclamation plan a distraction from the real short-term need for land
- Government should first focus on providing land for immediate housing use, rather than diverting resources to a long-term vision
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor cites uncertainties over the government’s ability to develop farmland or brownfield sites in the New Territories, and therefore says reclamation is needed to boost the land supply for housing. Her “Lantau Tomorrow Vision” however worsens the problem by diverting away necessary resources.
If there is a need for reclamation, action should be under way now to fast track sites which can be developed quickly, such as at Nam Tong to the south of Tseung Kwan O, where existing infrastructure can be extended to cater for the initial housing intake and expanded as more housing comes on line. No doubt the Task Force on Land Supply are giving this proper consideration in their recommendations.
The Lantau Tomorrow Vision proposal followed an alternative idea from former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, and is now itself also being followed by Hopewell Holdings chief Gordon Wu’s idea, which is a resurrection of a proposal he made in 1986. Wu’s proposal was rejected the following year, with a comment to the Executive Council that “the proposers’ enthusiasm is not matched by supporting evidence as to the project viability”. That comment could be equally applied to all three current proposals.
Figures being quoted for land sales to fund the development rely on good transport links to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, but there is no evidence to suggest that good links are possible.
The three proposals have different land areas, 1,700, 2,200 and 2,600 hectares respectively, and hence differing potentials for the number of people to be housed and employed. These differences will require different capacities for road and rail infrastructure. However all three proposals are similar, suggesting that the areas of land to be formed bear little relationship to the capacities of the proposed infrastructure.
All show a highway to Hong Kong Island but none to serve Kowloon and the southern/eastern New Territories. This is not surprising as such links are unlikely to be practical given the way Hong Kong has developed over the last 150 years.