Environment conservation advocacy must be realistic

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told reporters before the weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday morning that the SAR government will continue efforts to find lands for residential housing development despite the current economic downturn. It is reassuring that her comment once again confirmed land supply for housing development will still top the government’s socioeconomic agenda in the coming years — for obvious reasons.

A new housing project in the New Territories registered the strongest takeup in more than two decades in the city when its first batch of 391 units offered for sale were all taken up on Sunday by eager buyers who had submitted close to 23,000 subscriptions. The high takeup, despite generally weakening job security and rising income uncertainty amid the city’s worst recession on record and the looming threat of a fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, is a testament to the existence of strong pent-up demand due to persistent supply shortage.

If not for the recession and pandemic, home prices should have continued with their seemingly endless upward match, given the strong inelastic demand from home buyers. The government is right to continue efforts to find lands for housing and commercial project development. The current economic downturn might dent demand in the short term. But the housing shortage, one of Hong Kong’s deep-seated social problems that has contributed to social divide, particularly youth resentment, won’t go away until the SAR government builds a meaningful land bank.

It makes sense that Lam maintained that reclamation remains a strong candidate among all options. In the highly polarized Hong Kong society, almost all options, including tapping into country parks, resuming land held by big developers in New Territories and reclamation in coastal waters, are confronted by resistance from various interest groups. But reclamation is the most efficient in terms of providing a meaningful volume of usable land and is expected to face less legal obstruction.

Environmental concerns have been cited by people for their objection to the SAR government’s Lantau Tomorrow Vision, which aims to build a sizable residential and commercial district on reclaimed grounds east of Lantau Island. But if Holland, Singapore and Dubai’s stories of successful land reclamation are anything to go by, Hong Kong can also make the Lantau Tomorrow Vision a success story as long as the project follows a scientific approach, giving sufficient consideration to environment protection. Environment protection is a noble cause. But Hong Kong people need to be realistic and strike a balance between the need for accommodation and environment conservation.