Plan to bulldoze and develop Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling ‘a bit of a red herring’, says leader of city’s biggest business chamber

Aron Harilela says the controversial topic is a ‘a silly deflection of the fundamental issue’ of the housing shortage, calling for development on reclaimed land and brownfield sites

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Aron Harilela called for action on housing supply and labour imports. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

Published: 9:01am, 19 Jun 2018Updated: 9:04am, 19 Jun 2018

The government’s fraught suggestion of bulldozing an elegant golf course in Fanling to make way for homes is “a bit of a red herring” and “a silly deflection of the fundamental issue”, the leader of Hong Kong’s biggest business chamber has said.

In his first interview since succeeding Wharf’s Stephen Ng Tin-hoi as chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce in May, Aron Harilela said the government should pump land into the market to solve the housing crisis, with high property prices and worsening shortages causing ripples which affect businesses and the city as a whole.

Land supply was among many regulations the government must reform as outdated regulations, red tape and government departments not working together effectively had eroded efficiency, Harilela said.

In April, a government-appointed task force on land supply began a five-month public consultation on 18 options to free up the 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) that officials judge necessary for development over the next three decades. Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, the container terminals at Kwai Chung, and Plover Cove Reservoir in Tai Po are among sites floated as options for housing.

Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling is among sites floated as options for housing. Photo: Edward Wong

The shortage is already biting. Hong Kong families queuing for public housing need to wait for more than five years, the longest such wait in almost two decades. Prices for the city’s lived-in homes jumped for the 25th straight month in April, government statistics showed. As a reflection of the inflated market, a 265 sq ft flat on Hong Kong Island costs HK$5.6 million (US$710,000), which could buy a 10-bedroom, 138,000 sq ft, 17th century castle in France.

Harilela said the chamber wanted to see action soon.