Lantau Tomorrow Vision (Chinese:明日大嶼願景),also known as the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands,is a postponed development project in Hong Kong proposed by two former Chief Executives of Hong Kong. Former Chief Executive Carrie Lam proposed in her 2018 policy address the creation of a third core business district by constructing artificial islands with a total area of about 1,700hectares (4,200acres) through massive land reclamation near Kau Yi Chau and Hei Ling Chau of the eastern waters of Lantau Island.[1] The project has been met with controversy and opposition due to environmental concerns and also its high cost of an estimated HK$580 billion (US$73.8 billion),[2] amounting to half of the city's fiscal reserves. In February 2024 the financial secretary said the project would be postponed after looking at its finances,but insisted it would not be cancelled.[citation needed]
Land reclamation (red area) in Lantau Tomorrow Vision project.
In the Port Development Strategy of the late 1980s and the 1990s,reclamation in the area was intended for container terminals nos. 10 and 11.[citation needed] The idea of creating built-up land in the area via land reclamation was first publicly suggested in 2009 by two mainland academics,including Professor Lei Qiang from the Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou,China.[3][4]
The idea of the massive reclamation in the eastern waters off Lantau Island was suggested by Chief ExecutiveLeung Chun-ying's policy address in January 2014,where he proposed the strategic studies on artificial islands in central waters for the development of the East Lantau Metropolis (ELM) for long-term land supply.[5]
In 2016,the government published the Hong Kong 2030 Plus project suggesting the development of an East Lantau Metropolis by reclamations in the waters near Kau Yi Chau and the Hei Ling Chau with a capacity of accommodating population of about 400,000 to 700,000 and creating employment of about 200,000.[6] The Sustainable Lantau Blueprint of 2017 and the Task Force on Land Supply adopted the ELM project,in which the Task Force listed it as one of the 18 options in the five-month public consultation in 2018.[7]
During the public consultation of the Task Force on Land Supply,the think tank led by former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa,Our Hong Kong Foundation,proposed a research report on 7 August 2018 titled "Re-imagining Hong Kong with a Game-Changer:Enhanced East Lantau Metropolis" of reclaiming 2,200 hectares in the eastern waters off Lantau in 14 years of time which would house 1.1 million people that would solve Hong Kong's land shortage problems.[8] It came after Chief Executive Carrie Lam signaled her support for land reclamation when she said he was confident "that reclamation outside Victoria Harbour is the way to go,adding that she hopes the task force will also come to that conclusion."[9]
Content
Carrie Lam proposed Lantau Tomorrow Vision in her second policy address in October 2018.
On 10 October 2018,Carrie Lam's second policy address laid out the "Lantau Tomorrow Vision" which included the 1,700-hectare reclamation project which would provide between 260,000 and 400,000 homes to 700,000 to 1.1 million people,of which 70 per cent of the homes would be public housing.[10] The reclamation project would create artificial islands near Kau Yi Chau and Hei Ling Chau of the waters of East Lantau.
The reclamation would be consisting of the construction of artificial islands In the pamphlet,the project also suggested expanding the infrastructure capacity to support Lantau's role as a "double gateway" to the world and Yuegang'ao Greater Bay Area,including road and rail connecting the artificial islands and Hong Kong Island and Sunny Bay.
The project,almost double the size of its original proposal,would be the largest and most expensive to date,with a predicted cost of between HK$400 billion and HK$500 billion (US$64 billion).[11] The project also suggested setting up a $1 billion Lantau Conservation Fund to promote and carry out conservation projects on Lantau.
In December 2022,the cost was revised upwards of 16% from HK$500 billion to HK$580 billion (US$75 billion),with the projected revenue from land sales decreasing from HK$925 billion to HK$750 billion.[12]Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn defended the higher cost projection,and said further research was needed to get a better cost estimate.[13] In January 2023,Linn said that they also could not give accurate figures on the expected revenue from land sales,and that it would take until 2025 to ask for funding with a more accurate estimate of costs.[14] Linn also said she hoped 30,000 homes would be ready in 2033.[14]
Hong Kong's financial secretary Paul Chan said in his budget on 28 February 2024 that government would postpone the project after considering its financial implications,but insisted it would not be scrapped.
Concerns
The Lantau Tomorrow Vision met fierce opposition immediately after its publication. Roy Tam Hoi-pong of the environmental group Green Sense,expressed his worry that the project would drain the city's coffers,estimating it could cost up to HK$1 trillion (US$128.2 billion),almost all of Hong Kong's fiscal reserves.[15]
Carrie Lam's announcement of the project was also criticised for pre-empting a report from the Task Force on Land Supply,which carried out five months of public consultations and was supposed to advise the government on the best ways to deal with the land shortage,as the project only came barely two weeks after the public consultations and before the publication of its final report.[15]
Authorities began a 3-month public consultation on 29 December 2022,but did not make an announcement;instead,media discovered that the public consultation had started.[17] In February 2023,the government hosted a closed-door "briefing" over the project;11 environmental groups refused to attend,saying the government's consultation period was "the sneakiest in history" due to it not being announced.[18]
In February 2023,after a report by Greenpeace and Liber Research Community listed risks with the project,the Development Bureau said "We call on them not to obstruct Hong Kong’s development with alarmist and fallacious remarks."[19]
In March 2023,the government announced that the Belcher Bay Promenade,opened in phases starting from 2019,could be closed for five years in order to build a road to the project.[20]
In March 2023,Regina Ip said that the Northern Metropolis project should be prioritised over Lantau Tomorrow Vision;John Lee then responded by saying both projects would move ahead simultaneously without the need to prioritise one over the other.[21] In April 2023,a survey showed that only 6% of Hongkongers supported Lee's idea to build both simultaneously.[22]
In April 2023,Greenpeace said that the government had misled citizens on its "public consultation," as only 1 of 33 briefing sessions by the government had participation from the public.[23]
In August 2023,experts warned that the government would be unlikely to generate its projected income of HK$85 billion from land sales.[24]
An editorial in The Standard newspaper in December 2023 suggested the government might have lost interest in the project. [25]
Lantau Island is the largest island in Hong Kong,located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula,and is part of the New Territories. Administratively,most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands District of Hong Kong. A small northeastern portion of the island is located in the Tsuen Wan District.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is a politician in Hong Kong. She is currently the Convenor of the Executive Council (ExCo) and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo),as well as the founder and current chairperson of the New People's Party. She was formerly a prominent government official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and was the first woman to be appointed the Secretary for Security to head the disciplinary service. She is also the founder and Chairwoman of Savantas Policy Institute,a think-tank in Hong Kong.
Penny's Bay or Chok Ko Wan is a bay in north-eastern Lantau Island,and had been a port since the Ming dynasty. The bay has since been reclaimed and is the site of the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort,which consists of the Hong Kong Disneyland theme park,Disneyland Hotel,and Disney's Hollywood Hotel,and the Inspiration Lake. During the COVID-19 pandemic,it became home to Penny's Bay Quarantine Centre. It is connected by a highway and a rail connection on the MTR Disneyland Resort line to Sunny Bay station.
Several future projects on the MTR have been put forward by the MTR Corporation to the Hong Kong Government. Some of these are still in planning stage.
Kau Yi Chau,also known as Tai Kau Yi Chau,is an uninhabited island located west of Victoria Harbour,between Peng Chau and Green Island in Hong Kong. It is located on the crossroad of sea routes,east to west and north to south. The ferry between Central and Mui Wo sails close to the south of the island. Administratively it is part of Islands District.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022,after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years.
Priscilla Leung Mei-funGBS JP is a barrister and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor,representing the Election Committee since 2022. She previously represented the Kowloon West constituency from 2008 to 2021. She was a member of Kowloon City District Council.
Paul Chan Mo-po is the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong and former Secretary for Development of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
The reclamation of land from the ocean has long been used in mountainous Hong Kong to expand the limited supply of usable land with a total of around 60 square kilometres of land created by 1996. The first reclamations can be traced back to the early Western Han dynasty,when beaches were turned into fields for salt production. Major land reclamation projects have been conducted since the mid-19th century.
Alice Mak Mei-kuen is a Hong Kong politician,currently serving as Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs. She was formerly a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for the Election Committee,representing the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions. She graduated from Department of English of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has been a member of the Kwai Tsing District Council since 1993,and represented the Wai Ying constituency until 2019.
The administration of Carrie Lam as Chief Executive of Hong Kong,or Lam administration,officially referred to as "The 5th term Chief Executive of Hong Kong" relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong headed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam,between 1 July 2017 and 30 June 2022.
Kevin Yeung Yun-hung is a Hong Kong government official. He is the current Secretary for Culture,Sports and Tourism,serving since 2022.
John Lee Ka-chiu is a Hong Kong politician and former police officer who is the fifth and current Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Erick Tsang Kwok-wai is a Hong Kong government official. Since 2020,he has been Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs,one of the principal officials of Hong Kong. Prior to that,he was Director of Immigration.
Chris Tang Ping-keung is a Hong Kong law enforcement administrator who has been serving as the Secretary for Security of Hong Kong since June 2021. Tang joined the Hong Kong Police Force in 1987 immediately after his graduation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a bachelor of social science in social work. He previously served as the Commissioner of Police of Hong Kong from 2019 to 2021,Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) from 2018 to 2019,and Director of Operations of the Hong Kong Police Force from 2017 to 2018.
The Northern Metropolis is a planning area,consisting of two district administration areas,including North District and Yuen Long District in the northern New Territories in Hong Kong. It is envisioned as an integrated living and economic region aimed at leveraging the strengths of integration with Shenzhen.
Benson Luk Hon-man is a Hong Kong businessman and BPA politician who has been a member of the Legislative Council for the Election Committee constituency which was newly created under the electoral overhaul imposed by Beijing.
Checkley Sin Kwok-lam is a Hong Kong movie producer and social activist.
Paul Lam Ting-kwok is a Hong Kong Senior Counsel who is the current Secretary for Justice.
Chris Sun Yuk-han is the current Secretary for Labour and Welfare in Hong Kong,appointed on 1 July 2022 as part of John Lee's administration.
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