Executive Council 'fully Endorses' 8 Land Options

Sources have told RTHK the Executive Council has "fully endorsed" the eight options proposed by a government-appointed land supply task force - including taking back part of the Fanling Golf Course for housing.

The Development Bureau was expected to make a formal announcement on Wednesday on the way forward.

Almost two months after the task force submitted its report, the government now appears to have come up with its response.

In late December, the panel suggested eight ways to generate about three-thousand hectares of land for development.

Now it's reported that the Executive Council has approved all of them - including the contentious option to take back part of the 170-hectare Fanling golf course and build a 1,000-hectare artificial island east of Lantau.

Sources say officials have given the green light to take back 32 hectares of the golf course - leaving the rest untouched, so that it can continue to hold international events.

But that's expected to anger critics from both sides of the debate.

Sports enthusiasts have hit out at the proposal - saying not even a small part of the course should be compromised, because that would mean Hong Kong can no longer feature in international tours.

And there are those who want to use the entire golf course to build homes.

Reclamation off Lantau is another bone of contention. The task force has proposed a project covering 1,000 hectares, but the Carrie Lam government favours an expanded 1,700-hectare "Lantau Tomorrow Vision" scheme.

The other options the task force has suggested include developing brownfield sites and private farmland, as well as building more new towns in the New Territories.