Green groups worry Hong Kong’s John Lee may mislead public over ecological value of abandoned fish ponds at technopole site

Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, Greenpeace and the Conservancy Association say abandoned fish ponds in area earmarked for tech hub still have ecological value

City leader John Lee has called for project to press ahead, says some ponds are abandoned and cannot make for ‘good and proactive environmental protection policy’

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The San Tin Technopole forms part of the coming Northern Metropolis mega-project. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 8:30am, 24 Apr 2024Updated: 3:47pm, 24 Apr 2024

Green groups in Hong Kong have expressed concerns the city leader’s defence of a planned technology hub in the New Territories could mislead the public into believing that abandoned fish ponds earmarked for clearance hold no ecologic value.

The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, Greenpeace and the Conservancy Association responded to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s call on Tuesday for the San Tin Technopole project to press ahead.

Government advisers a day earlier gave their conditional approval of an environmental impact assessment for the development.

The project will take up more than 600 hectares (1,483 acres) of land near the border, with half of the site earmarked for developing the innovation and technology industry. The rest will become a town centre with 54,000 flats.

The development will occupy about 150 hectares of the Wetland Conservation Area, with authorities planning to fill in 90 hectares of fish ponds as early as 2026. A proposed 338-hectare wetland park at Sam Po Shue will compensate for the ecological loss.

Wong Suet-mei, a senior conservation officer at the Bird Watching Society, said: “Lee’s comments may mislead the public into thinking that all the fish ponds are abandoned in San Tin. This reflects that the government may not be very clear about the ecological functions of abandoned ponds.”