Hong Kong tycoon Gordon Wu unveils grand reclamation plan to link land masses and create 2,600 hectares for housing near Lantau Island

Businessman proposes linking Kau Yi Chau, Hei Ling Chau, Peng Chau and Sunshine Island, leaving no water channels in between

While he says government’s vision is not bold enough, his proposal has been criticised for being outdated and environmentally damaging

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Tycoon Gordon Wu has been vocal through the decades about land reclamation and housing policies. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 6:45pm, 26 Oct 2018Updated: 11:41am, 27 Oct 2018

Outspoken property tycoon Gordon Wu Ying-sheung has upped the ante on Hong Kong’s reclamation plans by proposing to create 2,600 hectares (6,400 acres) of land for housing to the east of Lantau Island and another 445 hectares near Lamma Island.

Wu’s blueprint is more ambitious than the government’s proposal to reclaim 1,700 hectares east of Lantau Island. By aiming to link existing land masses in Hong Kong’s waters, it is also more complex than a plan raised by a think tank – headed by the city’s first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa – to reclaim 2,200 hectares in the area.

Wu, who first suggested in 1997 to reclaim a total of 10,700 hectares across Hong Kong, estimated that his latest plan near Lantau Island would cost HK$334.2 billion (US$42.6 billion), compared with the predicted cost of between HK$400 billion and HK$500 billion for the government proposal.

During an interview with the Post and other media on Friday, the 82-year-old founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings said it was lamentable that the average living space per capita in Hong Kong was just 173 sq ft – slightly higher than that of Dhaka, which is the smallest in the world.