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Shirley Zhao

Pro-democracy parties and advocacy groups have launched a campaign to collect 100,000 signatures against a government proposal to create a mega island in Hong Kong waters.
The campaign, officially announced on Wednesday, has collected some 30,000 signatures since it started on October 10, the day when Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor revealed the 1,700-hectare reclamation plan in her policy address.
Organisers said the campaign, which is expected to end in mid-December, will be driven by district-level advocacy groups and the parties’ offices via an online platform, street booths and written submissions.

With a district council election coming next year, the groups said even pro-establishment lawmakers would have to consider whether to support the government on the plan if enough voters voiced their objection.
Large-scale reclamation the smart option for Hong Kong’s future
“The campaign is very important, to show public opinion,” said Labour Party lawmaker Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung. “People’s opinions should be respected by the government.”
Cheung said that in countries like Britain, petitions that amass 100,000 signatures or more would trigger a parliamentary debate, while in some states in America, signatures representing 10 per cent of the population could bring about a legally binding referendum.


The reclamation project to the east of Lantau Island, dubbed Lantau Tomorrow Vision, aims to provide land for housing and commercial use in two to three decades. A government source has previously said that the project is estimated to cost HK$500 billion (US$64 billion), or half the city’s fiscal reserves.
Some 6,000 people took to the streets last month to protest the scheme. Some expressed worries the project would be a white elephant and costs would overrun, while others were angry that the government’s choice of reclamation pre-empted an ongoing public consultation to find ways to boost land supply.

Supporters of the project argue that reclamation will be an easier way than other solutions such as developing abandoned agricultural land, because there would be no need to tackle compensation and rehousing issues, and the sale of land on the future island would be enough to recoup the costs.
Rational debate needed on Lantau reclamation for our future
Despite the pro-democracy parties’ objection to reclamation, the chief executive is likely to get a pass from Hong Kong’s legislature, which on Wednesday started a three-day debate on a motion of thanks on her policy speech, due to a majority of pro-establishment parties.
Jaco Chow Nok-hang, vice-chairman of the League of Social Democrats, said HK$1 trillion – which critics of the project say could be the final cost – could provide 1.3 million care homes for the elderly and the disabled, or 98 years of free cancer treatment, or 27 years of free university education.

Chow said the reclamation would not help solve Hong Kong’s pressing issues.
“Instead of using the money for some massive long-term infrastructure project, the government should use it to solve those welfare and health care issues,” Chow said.
Other parties backing the campaign include the Democratic Party, the Civic Party, the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood, the Neo Democrats, and Demosisto.
Advocacy groups taking part also include the Save Lantau Alliance and the Land Justice League.


Hong Kong environmentalists warn proposals to boost land supply could cause ‘irreversible’ damage

Why transport issues are bigger headache for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam than city’s housing crunch

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam hails ‘timely and essential’ national security law in opening remarks at city’s legal week

Lantau Tomorrow Vision versus 2030 Plus: what changed in just three years?

Carrie Lam policy address 2018

Lantau reclamation project: pro-democracy parties and advocacy groups launch campaign to get 100,000 signatures opposing government plan

A protester dressed as a white elephant in protest against the Lantau Island reclamation scheme at government headquarters in Admiralty. Photo: Felix Wong

A general view of Peng Chau island and nearby islands, viewed from Lantau, where an East Lantau Metropolis project is proposed by the government, in Hong Kong, China October 8, 2018. Picture taken October 8, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, attends a press conference on the policy address at Central Government Offices in Tamar. 10OCT18 SCMP / Dickson Lee

Residential buildings stand in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, July 20, 2018. Hong Kong's property market has a habit of humbling the bears, shattering predictions that the laws of gravity must eventually prevail. Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

Majority of Hongkongers worried about cost of Lantau reclamation plan, survey finds

Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-Kai. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

(L-R)Civic Partyâs Tung Chung District Developer Lee Ka-ho, lawmaker Kwok Ka-Kai and Jeremy Tam Man-ho speak at the press conference at Legco Chamber. 06NOV18 SCMP/ K. Y. Cheng

Opponents of land reclamation ‘do not represent Hong Kong’, property tycoon Gordon Wu says

Founder of major local developer says city’s future is bleak if government keeps acquiescing to ‘minority opinion’
                Organiser of march against chief executive’s plan to build artificial islands counters that scepticism runs deep

Protestors march against the reclamation proposal (by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on her second policy address) to build artificial islands off of Lantau Island for housing, photographed in Causeway Bay. 14OCT18 SCMP / Edmond So

Gordon Wu is founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings, a property developer. Photo: Dickson Lee

Request for funding to study controversial Hong Kong reclamation plan would be granted quickly, head of Legislative Council’s Finance Committee says

Chan Kin-por says fast approval for a feasibility study likely because rule changes have made filibustering difficult
                Calls critics of scheme ‘sinners in history’

Citizen group from Tsuen Wan and Tsing Yi put up a huge banner on the Tsing Yi Bridge to against the reclamation plan in Lantau.

Plans for developing Lantau

Chan Kin-por is chairman of Legco’s Finance Committee. Photo: Felix Wong

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Campaign hopes to garner enough signatures to make government think twice about estimated HK$500 billion project


Campaign, which includes pro-democracy parties and advocacy groups, hopes to garner enough signatures to make government think twice about estimated HK$500 billion project.
