HK’s Completely Filled-In Harbor

One of the world’s most famous landmarks, Victoria Harbour is an icon of Hong Kong. Tourists in the thousands flock to photograph boats sailing by in front of the skyscrapers, and big businesses pay millions to place their neon signs on top of the buildings flanking the water. So when the government announced in the 2011-2012 budget that it would conduct a feasibility study into reclaiming the entire body of water between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon by April 1, 2018 (a plan largely overlooked owing to the fracas over the cash handouts debacle), it was understandably met with shock and scorn by the affected sectors. “The skyline is one of the most important sites in Hong Kong. Tourists will be devastated if they can’t take a photograph of the iconic view,” says Kanye Sze of the Golden Illustrious Bauhinia Travel Agency.

But that doesn’t seem to bother the government. Officials cite various reasons for the reclamation plan, such as an unforeseen population growth owing to an influx of mainlanders, an urgent need for office buildings in the prime real estate zone of the Central Business District, and a general sense of ambivalence towards natural splendor. “Hong Kong has ample waterfront space,” says government spokesperson Justa Lai of the Harbour Reclamation Project Handling Association (HaRHA). “Kwun Tong has an excellent promenade, and with the cruise ship terminal at Kai Tak on the way to serving larger commercial vessels, we believe that more land in the Central Business District would better serve the community and local businesses.” Besides, he adds, “the entire city is basically a bunch of islands, so there’s lots of water all over the place.”

HaRHA also cites Hong Kong’s excessive waste production as another reason for the controversial move. “With our country parks under legal protection and nowhere else to deposit our waste, our only recourse lies in land reclamation,” Lai adds. “They’re called ‘landfills,’ which means we need land to fill in order to make them. Otherwise, they’d be called ‘spacefills,’ and that would be silly. Hence, we will fill in the harbor.”

The Protection of the Harbour Ordinance, passed in 1997, was put in place to prevent just such an occurrence. However, the ordinance may be overridden under three conditions: A compelling, overriding and present need to fill in the harbor; no viable alternative; and minimum impairment. This means that if developers and the government can create a sufficiently compelling case to fill in the harbor, then permission can be given to proceed. “We have already submitted our application to the High Court, and we believe that the prospect of offering Hong Kong another prestigious shopping outlet will provide a convincing argument in the plan’s favor—especially when the judges see the awesome dining vouchers we’ll throw in for them,” adds Lai. “We have already asked three incredibly expensive architects to present lackluster and downright ugly ideas for consideration.”

According to HaRHA, plans for the new land include the construction of a shopping center, a sky bridge (complete with a “Well, We Had a Good Run” heritage photography display of the old harbor) and a residential tower named Victorious One on the Sea. To placate the tourist sector, HaRHA will also be creating a Star Ferry-themed funicular railway system to shuttle tourists from the old Star Ferry pier directly to the flagship store of I.W.C Schaffhausen in the 1881 Heritage mall.
But it’s not all good news for shoppers. Restaurants and retail outlets on The Peak will be hard-hit, as numbers will dwindle once the skyline is obscured by a thick cluster of buildings on the reclaimed land. “If this plan goes ahead, who will buy my overpriced dragon’s beard candy?” asks one vendor. “Will someone please think of the dragon’s beard? If we lose the dragon’s beard, what’s next!?” Another wonders: “Who’s going to come all the way up here to admire my dumb waxworks if there’s nothing else to see up here?”

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