‘Quite a bit of space’: Hong Kong development adviser who says Lantau Island is underused met with scepticism and silence

An ambitious plan to transform Lantau Island into a new tourism and recreation hub of Hong Kong had been met with heavy scepticism by community activists in the city yesterday, while two major businesses operating on the island gave no immediate views towards it.

The plan, which will see the development of 14 recreational and tourism areas in Hong Kong’s “backyard”, was unveiled on Sunday in a report by the Lantau Development Advisory Committee, a government-appointed group which spent two years working out its vision for the island in years to come until 2030.

“The report merely proposes using Hongkongers’ land resources to build facilities for mainland tourists such as a theme park and a water park,”said Eddie Tse Sai-kit of the Save Lantau Alliance, a coalition of five community concern groups formed in 2014. The group had already garnered over 3,000 likes on Facebook as of last night.

Tse said the suggestions in the 33-page report, which included opening a spa resort at Cheung Sha Beach in south Lantau and turning Mui Wo into a water park, amounted to a “plunder of Hongkongers’ invaluable natural resources” on Lantau.

READ MORE: Disneyland expansion part of massive Lantau land reclamation project to house 700,000 more by 2030

“[Lantau’s] original planning aim was to give Hongkongers a place to go on holiday to get some quiet time,” he added.