Letters | In the Year of the Wood Dragon, Hong Kong must remain grounded, not look to the ocean

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I refer to the report “Ritual brings call for economic policy boost” (February 12), which is essentially Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung’s interpretation of the message on the No 15 fortune stick that he drew at a ceremony at the Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin: “Holding an axe and entering the forest looking for something not yet obtained. Wasting good material and losing one’s strength, offering oneself and waiting for the arrival of spring”.

We should congratulate Song dynasty commander Che Kung for so clearly seeing Hong Kong’s situation as we enter the Year of the Wood Dragon. One could interpret the message as directly applying to Hong Kong’s controversial plan to press ahead with the Kau Yi Chau artificial islands project in the eastern waters off Lantau Island. The rationale for the “Lantau Tomorrow Vision” proposed in 2018 has become severely blurred since the Covid-19 pandemic, with the advancement of the Northern Metropolis development, the migration of so many Hongkongers, the paucity of foreign investors, the demographic challenges facing mainland China and Hong Kong and the depletion of the city’s financial assets.

The Development Bureau seems to think that if one labels a project a new central business district, magic will occur to fulfil their development dreams and private developers will line up to buy the reclaimed land. We need a reality check as our government does not have a good track record of completing large development projects on time and within budget.