Hong Kong ‘throwing money into sea’ with proposed reclamation project for new town, concern groups warn
Environmentalists say project is not necessary as official data indicates the population will peak at 8.22 million in 2043 before declining
Environmentalists and other critics have attacked the Hong Kong government’s plan to build several artificial islands off Lantau Island for housing, saying it will be a white elephant because Hong Kong’s population is set to decline.
Reclamation ‘the only way to form land’, Carrie Lam says of Lantau plan
But concern groups said on Thursday that such a large-scale reclamation, based on a projected population of nine million, was not necessary as official data indicated the number of Hongkongers would peak at 8.22 million in 2043 before declining.
“Instead of putting taxpayers’ hard-earned money into helping improve our livelihood, the government is instead choosing to throw all the money into the sea for a project that is too costly and unnecessary,” NeoDemocrats lawmaker Gary Fan Kwok-wai said.
Roy Tam Hoi-pong, chief executive of the environmental group Green Sense, feared the project would drain the city’s coffers, estimating it could cost up to HK$1 trillion (US$128.2 billion), almost all of Hong Kong’s fiscal reserves.