Hong Kong shelves controversial Lantau reclamation project

Hong Kong authorities have shelved a controversial reclamation project to build three artificial islands in the sea off Lantau, with the development minister saying the government does not have the “necessary conditions” to start.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho made it clear for the first time on Wednesday that the current administration would not begin the HK$580 billion (US$74.6 billion) project in the waters off Kau Yi Chau, as it was a lower priority than the Northern Metropolis mega development along the city’s border with China.

“The government has not yet formulated a timetable for the implementation of the Kau Yi Chau project. In fact, we do not have the necessary conditions for the reclamation project to be carried out within this term of government,” she said in a written reply to engineering sector lawmaker Lo Wai-kwok.

The 1,000-hectare (2,471 acres) reclamation project, first floated more than a decade ago and also known as the Lantau Tomorrow Vision, was conceived as the city’s third central business district, with up to 210,000 homes for 550,000 residents.

Last December, the Civil Engineering and Development Department submitted the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) report to environmental authorities, who notified the department in February that the document was suitable for public inspection. But the report has not been uploaded to the relevant website.

Linn said that the Development Bureau considered it “inappropriate” to proceed with the public inspection and other statutory procedures under the EIA regime, including seeking views from advisers and approval from the authorities, given that the project had been delayed without a specific timetable.