What to expect when public consultation begins to deal with Hong Kong’s 1,200-hectare land shortage

Over the next five months, Hongkongers will be asked to choose the best of 18 ways the city can address its impending land crisis – but in the end it will take political will to tackle the thorny issue

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Is building flats at a container terminal a good idea? Photo: David Wong

Published: 3:57pm, 25 Apr 2018Updated: 10:43pm, 25 Apr 2018

To solve Hong Kong’s housing shortage, would you prefer to tear down a storied golf course for flats, or develop the fringes of the city’s much loved country parks? Or both?

These questions will be put to the public in a five-month consultation from Thursday. The land supply consultation, launched by a government-appointed committee, will give the public 18 options to choose from, each a different way of finding space to build more homes and drive the economy for the next three decades.

A housing crisis has added to fears of a land shortage. Photo: Nora Tam

Why is there a need for a public consultation?

With almost all readily available land in Hong Kong used up, the city’s housing shortage has put society, developers, land owners, the government and assorted other vested interests at loggerheads over how and where to find land for future development.

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor wrote in her election manifesto: “To tackle the housing problem, we must find more land. We must draw on the collective wisdom of society and recognise the need for compromises and give-and-take in order to find a solution that benefits the community as a whole.”