MCLC: HK reclamation plan stirs controversy

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: HK reclamation plan stirs controversy
***********************************************************

Source: The Guardian
(5/27/12):http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/27/hong-kong-islands-thr
eat-wildlife

Hong Kong plan to create 25 islands threatens wildlife, say protesters
Creation of 1,500 hectares of land in the region is flawed on
environmental and demographic grounds, say experts
By Vaudine England  in Hong Kong

Green hillsides stretch out behind Ruy Barretto's stone house and trains
to China <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/china> slip under the hill in
the designated conservation area where his family home has stood for
generations. Down by the waterfront, Tolo harbour
<http://www.catnip.co.uk/hongkong/newterritories.php> is teeming with
visitors. Behind it, a narrow, neglected road crawls up the Sha Lo Tung
<http://www.ahfan.com/shalotung/index.htm> hillside through dense trees,
birdsong, wild rushes, ferns and fresh air.

But if Hong Kong's planners have their way, tonnes of construction waste
will be dumped in and around Tolo harbour, disfiguring shorelines,
despoiling uninhabited islands and wrecking a rare recreational resource.

The plan is part of a broader aim to create 1,500 hectares of land to
provide homes and land space for millions more people. The planners talk
of creating 25 islands and waterfront extensions of hundreds of hectares
each. They would dump concrete in the sea to join up islands where weekend
sailors see porpoises and turtles, and wipe out natural pebble and sand
beaches.

Thousands have signed petitions against the plans. Experts on population,
environment, urban design and sustainability say that instead of creating
new lifestyles for residents, the plans will allow the government to save
the cost of shipping waste to China and garner huge profits from land
sales.

"They are trying to kill two birds with one profitable stone," says
Barretto, a barrister. The WWF <http://www.wwf.org.uk/> says the
environmental cost of the redevelopment is too high. Among the sites
targeted for reclamation,Po Toi island
<http://www.hkoutdoors.com/outlying-islands/po-toi.html> is home to
Romer's tree frog 
<http://www.afcd.gov.hk/english/conservation/con_fau/con_fau_rom/con_fau_ro
m.html>; Hei Ling Chau <http://gwulo.com/node/2356> island is home to a
special burrowing lizard; and the waters around Beaufort island
<http://www.divethoughts.com/diving-ne-corner-of-beaufort-island-hong-kong/
> support more than 30 species of coral. Porpoises, mangroves and spawning
>grounds for fish would all be put at risk.

However, the 25-location plan will create land in one of the planet's most
heavily populated places. The authorities are also thinking about creating
new land for a third runway at the international airport.

The government's civil engineering and development department
<http://www.cedd.gov.hk/>(Cedd), which refused to be interviewed, says it
is merely seeking public opinion on the best way to meet future
development needs. It issued a brochure suggesting that new land could be
created at 25 locations outside Hong Kong's central harbour area, which is
protected from development by law. It embarked on a "public engagement
process", in which the plan was outlined at seminars and exhibitions.
Responses are being analysed with a view to shortening the list of 25
sites down to 10.

The trouble, says a range of experts, is that the department's assumptions
are wrong, its reasoning faulty, and the process flawed. Take the Cedd's
claim that Hong Kong's population (of 6.9 million) will reach 8.9 million
by 2039. "I don't believe it," said Prof Paul Yip, Hong Kong's top
demographer, from the University of Hong Kong's department of social work
and social administration.

Hong Kong has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, at 1.04%,
and a rapidly ageing population. The daily quota for 150 new migrants from
mainland China is rarely full. Without a massive inward migration
programme it is hard to see how it could produce such significant
population growth.

As for the need for new land, the countryside is already scarred by
storage of shipping containers and old factory areas are left to rot. The
government has admitted that 200,000 flats are standing empty; more than
5,000 hectares of other land has also been identified for rezoning.

"Reclamation should be the last resort," said Roy Tam Hoi-pong, chairman
of environmental pressure group Green Sense <http://www.greensense.com/>.
The Hong Kong Institute of Planners <http://www.hkip.org.hk/En/index.asp>
says that reclamation "at an appropriate scale and level of overall
sustainability is a possible option" but warns that study of a large
number of criteria, including environmental and ecological, is necessary.

"The identification of 25 sites, prematurely released and belatedly
presented, is confusing … 'island' sites in particular are extremely
unlikely to be viable," it said in a submission to the government.

Government sources the Cedd's plan was a surprise to policy units usually
involved in such significant planning processes. A 2007 government study
called Hong Kong 2030
<http://www.pland.gov.hk/pland_en/p_study/comp_s/hk2030/eng/home/>
stressed the need for a more sustainable quality of life and warned
against rampant reclamation.

"We're suffering from a lack of decision-making," said Peter Cookson Smith
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3040887.Peter_Cookson_Smith>,
architect, urban planner and president of the Institute of Planners.

Some allege a broader lack of vision, saying Hong Kong's land needs depend
on its future relationship to the mainland. The border between the two
different jurisdictions is becoming more porous, which is partly why
mainland Chinese feel less need to live in more expensive Hong Kong. It
also raises questions about why Hong Kong should build more land, when
there is the huge space of China next door. For Barretto, the most
disturbing aspect of the 25-site plan is that the government appears to
have forgotten, or thrown out, the most basic principles of international
practice for sustainable planning.

After researching the figures, local commentator Tom Holland said: "It's
hard to conclude anything except that the planners and their construction
industry cronies have run completely amok, crazed by the prospect of
getting their hands on the government's huge fiscal reserves, and using
them to build ever more grandiose, expensive and unneeded civil
engineering projects. They need to be stopped."

Hong Kong's reclamation tradition

When British and other foreign traders' ships first sought safe harbour in
Hong Kong in the 1840s, the island offered a mere strip of flat land which
rose precipitously to the 550-metre peak. Reclamation - taking land from
the sea – was envisaged from the start.

Begun in 1889, the first major project added almost 4.5 hectares of new
land, creating what is now called Central, the primary business district A
subsequent reclamation of what is now called Wanchai added another 4.8
hectares.

Since then, Hong Kong has grown exponentially. The government has been
creating 500-700 hectares of land every five years, until 2005 when new
environmental awareness and legal sanction cut the growth back to under
100 hectares over five years.
As of early 2011, about 6% of land in Hong Kong (6,824 hectares) has come
from reclamation, the government says.

Traditionally, reclamation has been done by dredging, using rock and sand
fill and taking out mud that could not be built upon. New techniques
involve the use of large concrete blocks. This involves less dumping of
mud, and makes better use of existing construction waste. Engineers say it
also provides more stable land.

Hong Kong's international airport was built on new land made by taking
marine mud away. If a third runway is agreed, the new land it will require
will almost certainly involve the use of construction waste.