One million people living in a Lantau metropolis: does Hong Kong really want this?
Tom Yam decries the lack of opportunity for public input in plans to turn Lantau into another metropolis
Do you think of Lantau Island as a vital part of Hong Kong's countryside, to be preserved for everyone to enjoy, or as Hong Kong's transport and tourism gateway to be developed to its maximum economic potential? Most of us who escape from the concrete jungle to Lantau's tranquil country parks and unspoilt beaches would vote to keep them that way.
But the government wants to make Lantau an economic platform for the Pearl River Delta as it strives for ever closer integration with the mainland. And the developers want the lucrative opportunities this will open up for infrastructure, housing and tourism projects.
READ MORE: Development plans for Lantau include experimental modes of transport and boosting green tourism
What do Hong Kong people want? We have no say because a small circle of bureaucrats and business interests are deciding the future of our largest island behind closed doors.
Hong Kong people have no say because a small circle of bureaucrats and business interests are deciding the future of our largest island behind closed doors
Here's how they envisage that future: Lantau will have a population of 1 million, an 850 per cent increase from the current 105,526. (For comparison, Hong Kong Island's current population is 1.27 million). Off east Lantau, the islets of Hei Ling Chau and Kau Yi Chau are to be enlarged by reclamation, and the wetlands behind Mui Wo redeveloped, to create 1,000 hectares of land - that's about the size of Kwun Tong - for a major new development called the East Lantau Metropolis, which will have a business district and housing for 400,000 to 700,000 people.
On Lantau proper, the 20kms of southern beaches in Cheung Sha, Pui O and Tong Fuk, and areas adjoining the country parks, are earmarked for tourism-oriented commercial developments. The four correctional institutions will be relocated to open up their sea-facing sites for housing and other development. Subway lines running east-west and north-south will connect these residential and commercial zones with the airport, the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge landing and Tung Chung in north Lantau, and with western Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. A multi-lane highway will encircle the island to complete this vision of Lantau as a new metropolis and tourist hub.
In short, Lantau will be transformed into another urban municipality like Hong Kong Island and Sha Tin.
These plans, set out in a recent paper produced by the Development Bureau's Planning Department, were drawn up with input from a government-appointed group, the Lantau Development Advisory Committee, created last year. Its 30 members comprise 10 senior government officials plus 20 individuals from the private sector and academia. Among the 20, 11 have declared business interests in Lantau or family with land holdings in Lantau, and two are pro-government legislators.
