Citing the example of the MSAR, think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation has laid out a plan for five land reclamation sites across islands off the coast of the city – a plan which is being met by strong criticism from environmental group Green Sense, as noted by the Hong Kong Free Press.
The report justifies the measure by comparing the HKSAR with Singapore and Macau, noting that “20 per cent of Singapore’s land comes from reclamation […]” and that “reclaimed land forms 60 per cent of Macau’s total land area,” while “only 6 per cent of land in Hong Kong comes from reclamation.”
The plan notes that to raise average living spaces by 100 square feet per person (from 170 to 270), the city would require 9,000 hectares of new land, which it plans to build, or attach to existing islands in Cheung Chau, Lamma Island, Po Toi, Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O, notes the publication.
The plans include a proposal to build an artificial island ‘in the south of Cheung Chau’ for the relocation the Kwai Chung Container Terminal and additional ‘logistics operations on brown belt sites’, with the former site of the terminal to serve ‘as a residential area’. The proposed addition to Lamma Island would include ‘low-density residential development’, while that of Po Toi ‘can be used for the relocation of prisons and other government facilities,’ notes the report, as cited by the publication.
The proposal is part of the Hong Kong 2030+ development plan, which aims to have a strategy of planning for the HKSAR in a place by 2018.
The environmental group Green Sense noted that by even proposing the reclamation, the think tank is ‘fanning the flames of social divisions,’ pointing out that ‘In the past, the government’s blind seizure of land has created huge pressures on Hong Kong society. Unfortunately the foundation thinks the same as the government,’ notes the group, as cited by the publication.
