“The government has repeatedly claimed that the artificial islands were built for the sake of Hongkongers, but it is actually against the will of the people.”

The authorities estimated that the project would generate an annual HK$200 billion economic return.

But 55 per cent of those surveyed by the Public Opinion Research Institute said they were “quite unconfident” or “very unconfident” about the business district vision.

A total of 30 per cent, however, said they were “quite confident” or “very confident”.

The remaining 15 per cent were either “half-and-half” or “unsure”.

Those surveyed also poured cold water on the predicted economic return on the investment.

More than 50 per cent of respondents said they had doubts it would come true. But another 28 per cent said they had confidence in the government’s estimates.

The cost of the development also caused concern among the public.

Developments under 2 Hong Kong mega projects ‘will be sustainable’

A total of 54 per cent said they were worried about the financial burden on the government, although officials have said they were considering other financing options. About 34 per cent of those surveyed said they were not worried by the cost.

“We can see that the public is unconvinced over the project, no matter how many times the government rebuts concerns from society,” Chan said.

Francis Lee Lap-fung, a media professor at Chinese University’s school of journalism and communication, on Wednesday said the results of the latest poll on the 1,000-hectare (2,471 acres) land-reclamation scheme was consistent with studies carried out in the past two years.

“Even though polling institutes have asked questions in different ways over the past few years on the project, they have shown that around 50 per cent of the respondents opposed the project and another 30 per cent supported the project,” Lee said.

“We can say there is a clear majority that the public tends to oppose the project.”

The institute ran a similar survey on the massive land-reclamation project two years ago. Among the 6,014 respondents, 53 per cent of them opposed it and 31 per cent backed the plan.

Hong Kong leader says work on 2 mega land projects to proceed at same time

Only about 26 per cent of the respondents threw their weight behind the reclamation project.

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the convenor of the Executive Council, the city’s key decision-making body, last month said the Lantau project should take a back seat to the Northern Metropolis plan, which would provide more than 900,000 flats and up to 650,000 jobs.

But Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the government would press ahead with the Lantau plan.

Does Hong Kong need new mega developments off Lantau and in New Territories?

The Greenpeace survey also found 66 per cent of those interviewed hoped the Northern Metropolis plan would be prioritised. Just 14 per cent supported the reclamation project and only 6 per cent backed both proposals.

Lantau Development Advisory Committee member Lau Chun-kong said it was normal to have supporting and opposing views in a free society.

He added that the public should wait for the full study of the project’s cost and economic return to be unveiled.

The Development Bureau on Facebook restated that the discussion should focus on how to develop the artificial islands project instead of whether to implement it or not. It said it was aware that the public had concerns over environmental and financial issues, but the government would only be able to provide more information at a later stage.

It added it had collected more than 7,000 pieces of public opinion over its three-month Lantau Tomorrow Vision consultation and that it had held more than 30 briefing sessions, as well as organised exhibitions across the city.

The Greenpeace poll canvassed 1,018 people aged 18 or over through a random telephone survey last month.