Why East Lantau Metropolis is yet another conjuring trick by the Hong Kong government

Tom Yam says the sustained failure to justify reclamation plans for the HK$400 billion East Lantau Metropolis, despite significant public opposition and few long-term housing benefits, shows up the government’s threadbare logic

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The Hong Kong International Airport and Tung Chung residential area on Lantau Island. Photo: Stanley Shin

Tom Yam

Published: 2:42pm, 22 Nov 2017Updated: 7:13pm, 22 Nov 2017

How does a government with no popular mandate create the appearance of popular support for controversial proposals?

First, set up a committee/task force/panel and appoint as most of its members qualified people from “different sectors” who can be trusted to follow the script. Call this group “representative” and give it terms of reference and other trappings of credibility. Then, present the controversial proposal to the committee to “study” and give its “recommendation”.

Shortly thereafter, the committee recommends that the proposal should proceed. The government accepts the recommendation, declaring the proposal endorsed by a group from “a cross-section of society”, and indignantly denies any suggestion that the committee has merely rubber-stamped the proposal.

This is essentially the Hong Kong government’s strategy for conjuring up an illusion of public approval for projects that have, in reality, generated significant public controversy. It’s the game plan being deployed for the East Lantau Metropolis.

This vast new town is to be created by reclaiming land around two islets east of Lantau and connecting them to Mui Wo in south Lantau. On these 1,000 hectares will rise housing and infrastructure for up to 700,000 people, plus a business district, linked with the rest of Hong Kong by bridges or tunnels and railways totalling 29km. It will cost about HK$400 billion, exceeding the combined cost of the third runway, high-speed rail link to Guangzhou and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge. It will be the most expensive, complex and risky project in our history.

Why East Lantau Metropolis is yet another conjuring trick by the Hong Kong government

Tom Yam says the sustained failure to justify reclamation plans for the HK$400 billion East Lantau Metropolis, despite significant public opposition and few long-term housing benefits, shows up the government’s threadbare logic

Hong Kong town planners map out future for Lantau

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