Letters | Hongkongers must protect Victoria Harbour from dangerous legal tinkering

Readers discuss proposed amendments to the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance, the need for anti-bullying legislation, and the government’s track record of implementing big projects

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A view of Victoria Harbour from the sky100 observation deck in 2022. The government has proposed amendments to the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance, a law that has saved the harbour from a few reclamation plans. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 11:30am, 13 Apr 2023

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On the subject of land reclamation for development, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu recently referred to the example of Singapore.

We at the Society for Protection of the Harbour would like to point out that Singapore has reclaimed land from the sea surrounding it, whereas Hong Kong is an archipelago comprising hundreds of beautiful islands and its Victoria Harbour is an enclosed piece of water which, after years of reclamation, is now less than half its original width.

Thus, Hong Kong and Singapore are very different.

In the case for reclamation, another example often quoted is Macau. But Macau did not have much of a harbour to begin with. Its harbour was a few feet deep, much of which became land at low tide because of silt carried over by the flow of the Pearl River.

Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour is so fortunate not to have this problem. It is still wide and deep enough to accommodate large shipping fleets, but not for much longer if indiscriminate reclamation continues to damage and diminish it.