Why Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew would have never backed Lantau reclamation

Tony Kwok is correct in saying that Lee Kuan Yew would have solved Hong Kong’s housing problem with reclamation (“How would Lee Kuan Yew have solved Hong Kong’s problems?”, April 17). Singapore’s reclamation projects are well-planned, with good supporting infrastructure and redundancies to cater for potential problems.

But Lee would never have risked putting a new town on an island with limited access, as with the proposal for the artificial islands off Lantau –supported by Our Hong Kong Foundation and Mr Kwok.

The disruption caused by the unfortunate collision of five buses on Tsing Ma Bridge on April 21 is an indication of the disruption that residents and workers on the artificial islands could expect with the inadequate transport infrastructure currently proposed.

Ronald Taylor, Pok Fu Lam

Reclamation is an outdated strategy from pre-global warming days  

Currently, about a quarter of Hong Kong’s population lives on reclaimed land, much of which is less than 5 metres above sea level. This would be fine, if it wasn’t for global warming.

In urging carbon action, the World Bank as far back as in 2012 warned that a 4 degrees Celsius rise in temperature could cause sea levels to rise by about a metre higher than expected by the end of the century.

Scientists now estimate that 275 million people worldwide live in areas that will eventually be flooded at 3 degrees Celsius of global warming, and 8.4 million people in Hong Kong will be affected.

Also, imagine a typhoon in the future as intense as Typhoon Wanda in 1962, when the water level at Quarry Bay rose to a record 3.96 metres.

Bearing in mind that future storms are likely to be far stronger, and that our own Hong Kong Observatory has forecast an increase of 4.8 degrees Celsius in the annual mean temperature of Hong Kong by the turn of the century, there is real cause for concern.

But how accurate are these forecasts? The truth is, no one knows. Only time will tell.

The one thing we do know for sure is that melting ice caps and glaciers are causing sea levels to rise. Eventually, large parts of Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Tuen Mun, Tai Po and Tung Chung may be underwater.

This is not a question of if – it’s a question of when. And also where – where will the new housing be built?

Clearly not on land reclaimed from the sea. Reclamation is a strategy from the last century when no one foresaw the dramatic changes in climate now facing us. It is totally inappropriate – irresponsible, even – to consider continuing with reclamation.

In regard to the future of housing for Hongkongers in the face of global warming, there is only one conclusion to be made: we must retreat from the sea.

Peter Mark Loasby, Pui O, Lantau