The People Protest Lam's Housing Solution

Over 5,000 people came out to protest Lam's idea to build an artificial island

Days after Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced the government's plan to reclaim 1,700 hectares to be made into an artificial island by Lantau, thousands of people came out to protest this afternoon.

She dubbed it "Lantau Tomorrow Vision", a multi billion-dollar project to make an area east of Lantau Island a third central business district after Central and Kowloon East that could house 1.1 million people.

A government source estimated it would cost HK$500 billion (US$63.8 million) to develop, taking up half of the city's financial reserves. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po admitted the development would be costly, but part of it could be offset by selling some of the land to developers, and constructing a railway network would yield some returns.

Protestors feel the government is colluding with developers

This afternoon the police estimated 5,800 people took part in the protest march today, while organizers didn't give a figure, so it could have been much higher. People of all ages came out, many wearing blue T-shirts. Some of the banners they held read "white elephant" or described the scheme as "outright robbery"; others asked for Lam to step down.

Critics of Lam's plan have other suggestions on how to boost land supply, such as developing 1,000 hectares of farmland, or 1,300 hectares of brownfield sites -- degraded agricultural land occupied by businesses like car parks or recycling yards -- mostly in the New Territories.

But Lam was undeterred saying addressing the land supply issue was urgent and that the government was also looking at developing brownfield sites too.

"The suggestions that [my] land supply and reclamation plans are 'burning up the city's fiscal reserve', 'pouring money into the sea' and 'benefiting developers'... are not true," she said, adding it should not be "shocking" the government wanted to reclaim 1,700 hectares of land in the next 20 to 30 years.

There are also environmental concerns in creating an island

Twenty years ago people weren't as concerned about the environment before as they are now, and they are tired of seeing what they believe is the government colluding with property developers.

If we so precious about land, let's be prudent about it and develop these brownfield sites first. The government needs to be more creative in how land is used -- what about allowing people to legally live in warehouse spaces? What about forcing landlords of empty flats to either rent them out or sell them?

The public have come out to say they don't want to destroy the environment to create more land. So Lam and her administration need to think of more creative ideas to help people have a roof over their heads.