Hong Kong will push forward with a plan to create artificial islands off Lantau Island despite a lagging timetable, finance chief Paul Chan has said.
Chan told reporters on Wednesday afternoon – after delivering his budget address for the 2024-25 fiscal year – that reclamation for the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands project, which was originally slated to begin in 2025, would be delayed by “a little.”
Its development would also “lag behind” that of the Northern Metropolis – another project intended to provide more than tens of thousands of homes and jobs by integrating development projects in the northern New Territories.
“We have to give consideration to the public finance position… we may have to defer the project a bit further than 2025,” Chan said in Cantonese in response to a reporter’s question. “But we will definitely go ahead with it.”
He added that a technical feasibility study will have to be conducted before taking the project forward.
Both the Kau Yi Chau islands and Northern Metropolis plans would drive land supply, Chan said. The islands, however, were less of a priority, he added.
The Committee on the Financing of Major Development Projects, led by Chan, has reviewed how to adopt an “orderly and phased approach” in developing the Northern Metropolis, the finance chief said in his speech that morning.
“We plan to issue bonds of about HK$95 billion to HK$135 billion per annum in the next five years to drive the development of the Northern Metropolis and other infrastructure projects,” Chan said.
The government will continue to conduct relevant studies for the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands project and “will take into account various factors including the public finance position” in considering its concrete implementation timetable, he continued.
Authorities have said the artificial islands, originally slated for completion in 2033, would provide 190,000 to 210,000 residential flats and around 4 million square metres of office space in its commercial district.
A government source told HKFP on Wednesday morning that reclamation for the islands would be delayed from the initial schedule of 2025, but did not mention when it was expected to begin.
The source said the Development Bureau was still in the initial stages of planning and designing the artificial islands, and that it hoped the statutory environmental impact assessment process could begin by the end of 2024.
Preliminary processes would have to be completed before the Financial Services and Treasury Bureau could handle the financing plan for the islands, another source said.
The project has already been met with considerable controversy and criticism, with Liber Research Community saying it could have “incalculable” ecological impacts, and a survey finding that that over half of respondents said they were worried that the project would be a burden on public finances.
Over half also said they were not confident that the project could fulfil its promise of becoming a core business district.
A proposal for reclaiming land in Lantau’s eastern waters and creating a new urban centre was introduced by former chief executive Leung Chun-ying in 2014. His successor, Carrie Lam, turned the plan into one of her flagship policy schemes. Under Lam, it became known as Lantau Tomorrow Vision – and drew controversy.
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