Rising sea levels, storm surges pose risks for Hong Kong's artificial island project

Hang Lung Properties

11/10/2018 10:34

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    By Farah Master
    HONG KONG, Oct 11 (Reuters) - As Hong Kong recovers from one
of the strongest typhoons in decades, a controversial plan to
build a vast artificial island is facing intense scrutiny from
environmental groups, lawmakers and academics who say it will be
vulnerable to rising sea levels and storms.
    The East Lantau Metropolis plan, backed by powerhouse
property developers including New World Development  0017.HK 
and Henderson Land  0012.HK , is the government's favoured
option to address a chronic housing shortage in one of the
world's most expensive property markets. 
    But the project, which envisions housing more than 1 million
people across 1,700 hectares of reclaimed land, is probably the
worst choice, said Lam Chiu-ying, a former director of Hong
Kong's weather bureau. 
    "Unfathomable climate risk, destruction of 22 square
kilometres of natural marine habitat, extremely costly - with
the cost comparable to the total government reserves - and
strategically vulnerable transport-wise," he said.
    Local media have estimated the cost at up to HK$500 billion
($63.80 billion), while environmental groups estimate the cost
at HK$700 billion or more.    
    With a population of more than seven million, the former
British colony is one of the world's densest places.  
    The city is largely adept at dealing with typhoons, which
occur regularly in southern China, yet the authorities
underestimate the impact of rising sea levels and more extreme
future weather, environmentalists say.
    Hong Kong saw unprecedented flooding and damage during
September's Typhoon Mangkhut, with seawater swallowing roads and
enveloping residential and office buildings, while public
transport networks were largely paralysed.
    Walton Li of Greenpeace said it was one of the world's most
vulnerable port cities. As it faces stronger typhoons and higher
storm surges, the risk of flooding will dramatically increase,
he added.
    Our Hong Kong Foundation, a think tank backed by property
developers and former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, is the
driving force behind the Lantau reclamation project.
    The group has deployed a glitzy marketing campaign,
including an emotive video starring local celebrity Andy Lau
this month. Its message: reclamation is the best solution
considering "cost effectiveness, environmental conservation,
planning and infrastructure, and the preservation of property
rights." 
    The project could be built higher to address rising sea
levels and heavy tropical storms, a foundation representative
told Reuters, adding that waves during typhoons were not
estimated to exceed two meters where the island would be built. 
   The Hong Kong government has said the development would be
built to standards that accounted for climate change. 
   Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in her policy address on
Wednesday that the government was studying the planned
reclamation, with the first phase of the development to start in
2025. 
    Temperatures are likely to rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius
between 2030 and 2052 if global warming continues at its current
pace, a U.N. report said this week. 
    "The government has a head-in-the-sand approach," said Hong
Kong-based environmentalist Martin Williams. 
    Williams pointed to Osaka's Kansai airport, which was
flooded after Typhoon Jebi in September, as an example of how
the island project could go badly.
    Ngai Hok Yan, a senior civil engineer in Hong Kong, said
that the development could be built to handle massive storms but
that there would always be uncertainties in predicting the size
of the waves. 
    Tom Yam, a member of Hong Kong's Citizens Task Force on Land
Resources, said that although some reclamation should be
considered, the huge cost of the East Lantau project would
exhaust half of Hong Kong's fiscal reserves.
    "The extremely high cost, complexity risks and environmental
consequences of large-scale reclamation in the middle of the
ocean make the planned reclamation a wholly different animal,"
he said.
   Such a development, he added, would benefit only property
tycoons and construction companies. 
    The Citizens Task Force said the foundation's plans were
based on an inflated estimate of population growth and demand
for land.
    A better alternative would be to develop more than 1,000
hectares Hong Kong property developers already own in the city's
verdant New Territories.
   "Affordability, not land shortage, is the core housing issue
faced by Hong Kong people. It is shocking to see how land supply
continues to be moderated by government to maintain high land
premium revenues," the group said in September. 


($1 = 7.8372 Hong Kong dollars)

 (Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
 ((farah.master@thomsonreuters.com; +852 28431631 ; Reuters
Messaging: farah.master.thomsonreuters@thomsonreuters.net))