Government says it needs extra land around main island of Lantau for housing

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Hong Kong plans to spend HK$624bn (£60bn) on one of the world’s largest artificial island projects, which the government promises will ease the territory’s housing crisis but critics say will cause environmental and financial problems.

The government says it will create 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of land off Hong Kong’s biggest island, Lantau.

Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, also created by land reclamation, is just over half that size, at 560 hectares.

Work on the Lantau Vision Tomorrow scheme is scheduled to start in 2025, with the first residents moving in seven years later, in 2032.

The islands would provide space for up to 260,000 flats, the government has said. More than 70% of them would be reserved for public housing, in one of the most densely populated and least affordable cities in the world.

But critics have warned that the cost, equivalent to more than half the territory’s total financial reserves, could cripple Hong Kong financially. Environmentalists say the project is both damaging and unnecessary.

The area’s endangered pink dolphin could be particularly at risk from the building work. Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund argue that Hong Kong authorities should first build on more than 1,200 hectares of brownfield sites – former industrial areas that have been polluted but could be cleaned up for construction.

“Compared with reclamation, [development of] brownfield sites has high public support and the cost is cheaper,” the Greenpeace campaigner Andy Chu told CNN.

The government decided to reveal details of the vast expansion, which was announced last year, in an attempt to allay concern about whether Hong Kong can afford the new islands, the South China Morning Post reported.

“Usually the government does not reveal cost estimates before we conduct studies for a project,” the secretary for development, Michael Wong, told a press conference. “But the public is concerned that the project might empty our coffers. Our conclusion is that it will not.”

Hong Kong has been reclaiming land from the sea for over a century, and recent ambitious projects include the international airport, built on an artificial island over two decades ago. But this project would be the most expensive to date.

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Thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against the plans for the artificial islands. The campaign group Save Lantau Alliance has released a leaflet criticising the project for wasteful spending, environmental devastation and lack of consultation.

It also says the massive housing construction is unnecessary, because although the population is still growing, it is forecast to slide back to around current levels by the middle of the century.

“Statistics show that Hong Kong’s population will peak at 8.22 million in 2043, and shrink to 7.6 million in 2064,” the leaflet said. “Although the population will drop, the government still wants to justify the development by increasing land reserves for this phantom population.”

Wong said the government could afford annual costs estimated at up to HK$50bn and added that he believed initial outlay would eventually be recouped. He cited an estimate by the Institute of Surveyors that potential land revenue from the artificial islands would reach at least HK$974bn.

Just over half of the estimated cost will cover the new artificial islands, with the rest going on transport infrastructure, which authorities unusually aim to finish before the first residents move in.

The islands would be designed to withstand the impact of climate change, a big concern in a city very vulnerable to sea level rises, Wong said. The land formed would be at least as elevated as Hong Kong airport, which sits six metres (19 feet) above sea level and last year survived Super Typhoon Mangkhut.

In addition to the airport, Lantau island is also home to a new mega-bridge opened in 2018 – billed as the world’s longest sea bridge – connecting Hong Kong to neighbouring Macau and mainland China at a time when Beijing is seeking to tighten its grip on its semi-autonomous territories.

Hong Kong authorities last year laid out plans for another 700-hectare artificial island around Lantau, as part of the Vision Tomorrow plan, but have not released any further details about timing or cost of that construction work.