Lantau Tomorrow Vision: in absence of opposition, Hong Kong lawmakers bide their time pressing officials on mega project, raise concerns

Hong Kong’s pro-establishment lawmakers pressed officials for further clarity on the controversial HK$624 billion (US$80.5 billion) Lantau Tomorrow Vision reclamation project on Friday, as they raised a raft of concerns while vetting an initial funding request for feasibility studies.

In the absence of the opposition camp, the pro-Beijing bloc did not rush to vote on the project in the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee meeting. More than 20 of them raised questions about the plan, expressing concerns on matters ranging from costs to inadequate publicity by authorities to convince the public of its benefits.

Lantau Tomorrow Vision, a signature policy of city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, aims to build 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres) of artificial islands in waters east of Lantau Island and a new transport network, to create a new metropolis and housing hub.

Lam has argued the development is key to solving the city’s chronic shortage of land and affordable housing, which Beijing deems a “deep-seated” problem and one of the causes behind last year’s civil unrest.