Green Groups Urge Govt To Ditch Lantau Project

Representatives from nine green groups on Thursday urged the government to scrap its proposed massive reclamation project off Lantau, saying it would seriously damage the environment.

They also urged Legco's finance committee to reject a funding request of HK$550 million for a study on the project when the matter comes up for discussion on Friday.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam said during her Policy Address on Wednesday that the government will push ahead with the plan because the reclamation is needed to solve the city’s long-term housing problems.

But a senior campaigner of Greenpeace, Kate Lin, said reclaiming 1,000 hectares of land would destroy marine life irreversibly.

“The reclamation project will bring huge destruction to the biodiversity and marine ecology in Hong Kong,” she said.

Lin added that the project, with a price tag of HK$624 billion, would put huge financial pressure on the city’s coffers.

She said the government should instead develop brownfield sites in the New Territories, which would cost less and provide a similar number of flats as the Lantau project.

Joining Greenpeace in the call to drop the plan were the Conservancy Association, Designing Hong Kong, Green Power, Green Earth, Greeners Action, Save Lantau Alliance, Hong Kong Bird Watching Society and Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society.