Letters | Hong Kong must stand firm on the law protecting Victoria Harbour
- A lawmaker’s proposal to amend the Harbour Ordinance could leave most of Victoria Harbour – designated the ‘natural heritage of Hong Kong people’ – vulnerable to reclamation
I am writing on behalf of the Society for Protection of the Harbour with reference to a legislative councillor’s announcement of her proposal to amend the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance. If this proposal is adopted, most of Victoria Harbour would be left unprotected.
Thanks to the support of the community, the government, the Town Planning Board, the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee and the Harbourfront Commission, the ordinance has been working well since its enactment in 1997.
Over the last 24 years, the ordinance has enabled tremendous harbourfront improvements through dozens of projects for the public enjoyment of the harbour.
The ordinance protects the harbour by giving it the legal status of “a special public asset and a natural heritage of Hong Kong people” such that the public can by law control what the government and private commercial interests can do to the harbour.
Before the ordinance, the government and private enterprises could reclaim and develop the harbour without restriction, and the public had no objection rights. As a result, Hong Kong nearly lost its harbour.
This will become the situation again if the amendment is allowed.