SCMP today:

Creating islands no answer to lack of land, critics say
Offshore sites for housing seen as wasteful and environmentally unsound

Cheung Chi-fai
Jan 05, 2012

Building artificial islands for housing off the coasts of Hong Kong would be a major waste of resources and could threaten marine life, several experts said.
The government has floated the idea of building man-made islands to increase land supply, and the proposal is in the early stages of discussion.

Greg Wong Chak-yan, a veteran civil engineer and former vice-chairman of the Town Planning Board, said that while such a venture was feasible, it was not necessary at the present time. "Artificial islands are feasible in engineering terms, but many people might ask why we must have these reclamations. Will some people become shelterless if we don't create land from the sea?"
Wong said it would make more sense to move unpopular facilities like prisons to artificial islands rather than build new homes on them.

Dr Ng Cho-nam, a member of the Transport Advisory Committee who teaches geography at the University of Hong Kong, said the proposal served little purpose as there was still plenty of undeveloped land in the New Territories.

He said: "How could these [artificial] islands attract development, especially when there is still lots of land in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun for use?"
This sentiment was shared by Winston Chu Ka-sun, an adviser to the Society for Protection of the Harbour. He said the solution to the city's housing shortage was developing more land in the New Territories. Construction on reclaimed land would be too costly, he said.

There are also environmental concerns in building man-made islands, according to groups such as the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society and WWF Hong Kong.

Samuel Hung Ka-yiu, chairman of the society, called the idea ridiculous and said it would put marine creatures at risk.

Samantha Lee, from WWF, noted there were rich coral resources near Po Toi Island, while Tolo Harbour was a vital breeding ground for animals. "We do not oppose all reclamation but some sensitive sites have to be avoided," she said.

Green Sense president Roy Tam Hoi-pong, meanwhile, said instead of providing unlimited land supply to support population growth, "the real challenge is capping the population".
He said luxury housing on artificial islands might be aimed more at rich mainlanders rather than locals.

chifai.cheung@scmp.com

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This is a pretty stupid idea. The aim seems to be to piss away a lot of money, to try to stimulate the economy. As far as producing living space, it shows that the government is so afraid of the Heung Yee Kuk that instead of using rural land sensibly, they are just going to leave that to the Kuk to develop higgledy-piggledy .

I think this will never get off the ground myself, the next CE will probably shelve it. But in the mean time it gives the govt an excuse to do nothing about facing the issues of developing rural land.

But in the unlikely case that these islands really are constructed, it would be interesting to see how that affected our situation. They would have to increase the number of ferries markedly at least. We might actually get an inter-island ferry that came to Lamma. But that would be at least 10 years in the future, seeing how long it would take to construct these islands, then you have to wait a few years for the ground to settle before it's safe to build.

Also note the "reclamation upon artificial or disturbed shoreline" at the Sok Kwu Wan quarry. That seems pretty odd, as there is already a huge area of flat land there now, and the government has already proposed using it for housing. Maybe that's just been thrown in to this scheme though they won't actually do new reclamation there.

This size reclamation needs lots of rock and sand fill. Chek Lap Kok reclamation absorbed the rock spoil from all concurrent huge projects (Lantau highway, Tsing Yi cut slopes, Cheung Ching Tunnel, etc.) and then it was capped/filled with sand dredged from the sea. If the material for the proposed reclamations is sourced locally only (I can not imagine import) it would require again quarrying and dredging on enormous scale. The planned third runway is already huge volume to find. A scary vision, and I am not sure this concept comes from the real need of land. Hong Kong economy is a kind of enigma to me and this is one of the puzzles.

A huge pile of shite between Lamma and Cheung Chau, interfering with shipping lanes and costing a stack? This has to be a wind up. I wonder if the Baroque loonies where involved.

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Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Our Govt. is planning to "Enhance Land Supply" by reclaiming 25 locations all over HK, 2 sites on Lamma, north of YSW and outside the Lamma Quarry in Sok Kwu Wan, plus on Lamma's "sister island", Po Toi.

After last Saturday's public forum in North Point, there'll be 2 more public forums, check out http://www.landsupply.hk/onlineRegistration.php?lang=eng:

11 Feb 2012 2:30pm – 5:30pm (Sat)
Chiang Chen Studio Theatre, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Road, Hung Hom

18 Feb 2012 2:30pm – 5:30pm (Sat)
Room 307, Lecture Hall, Caritas Bianchi College of Careers, 18 Chui Ling Road, Tseung Kwan O

Any comments can be sent to http://www.landsupply.hk/publicSubmission.php?lang=eng

Ref 1: 25 sites listed for reclamation (http://topics.scmp.com/news/hk-news-watch/article/25-sites-listed-for-reclamation)

Ref 2: 移山填海——一場誤導性的「諮詢」(http://www.inmediahk.net/%E7%A7%BB%E5%B1%B1%E5%A1%AB%E6%B5%B7%E2%80%94%E2%80%94%E4%B8%80%E5%A0%B4%E8%AA%A4%E5%B0%8E%E6%80%A7%E7%9A%84%E3%80%8C%E8%AB%AE%E8%A9%A2%E3%80%8D)

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Poster just received:

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From Living Lamma:

"URGENT- deadline for comments March 31

Do you want a 100-hectare plus reclamation off the coast of north Lamma?
Do you want reclamation of up to 29 hectares off the site of the Lamma quarry opposite Sok Kwu Wan?

The government has listed 25 sites for reclamation. As yet there have been few objections to reclamation off Lamma. There is a danger that these sites will be short-listed if there is no response from the public.

The proposals for reclamation are very controversial. Many commentators have noted that the government’s arguments for reclamation are flawed.
Reclamation on or near Lamma will forever alter the island’s landscape, and will change the way of life of its residents and the value it has for visitors. The government claims that one of the benefits of reclamation is that it will provide a place to dump Hong Kong’s construction waste. Is this what you want for Lamma?

ACT NOW

Send your comments to: landsupply@cedd.gov.hk

For more information visit: http://www.landsupply.hk (be patient the information takes a while to download. The map of proposed sites can be found in the Media Corner of the website.)"

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Just received this alarming email from a subscriber, replying to my Lamma-zine email newsletter today, re: the suggested New North Lamma reclamation island, see above. Many of us treated this wild idea as kind of a joke, but the Govt might be serious about it and pursue the idea further soon:

"Just like to say that, although you have made passing mention you should be putting a HUGE focus on the threatened reclamation. It's a 100 hectares and the govt will try to get this through based on dodgy population figures which don't stack up with CY Leung's planned "mainland mums" ban. In short...more money for the concrete builders.

We've been waging a huge campaign to save Sandy Bay/Pokfulam and it is strongly rumoured the Govt will yield on this but push Lamma for a 2nd feasibility study because there has been insufficient resistance.

Get your OBJECTIONS out there if you want to save your island."

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to save everyone having to find it
http://www.landsupply.hk/download/pdf/MediaBriefing-4Jan2012/Possible_%20reclamation_sites_map.pdf

Remember the idea that started this topic, the Govt.'s numerous reclamation plans all over HK, but outside of protected Victoria Harbour, including Po Toi-Beaufort Island, ex-Lamma Quarry and what they called the Lamma North artificial island?

Out of all these many ideas, only 5 reclamations and a single artificial island survived the first planning stage. Yes, Lamma North is the remaining idea, going into the next phase of consultations now. This story and map was published in the SCMP today.

Six reclamation sites shortlisted to boost Hong Kong land reserves

Reclamation schemes include a plan for an artificial island, but officials say proposals will do little to address city's housing needs.

Five reclamation sites and plans for an artificial island have made the shortlist from 25 sites earmarked by the Development Bureau for a "strategic land reserve".

The location of this massive artificial island (1,000-2,000 hectares) is not clear from the map. They might have moved it up northwards from the initial plans showing it pretty close to YSW and named Lamma North, or not. Location details haven't been announced yet and they might still be flexible?

But wherever it'll be located exactly, if this goes ahead expect massive, airport-size reclamation works to go on for several years, just off the YSW-Central ferry route.

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Great news ! My little concrete shack in Pak Kok will soon be worth a fortune !

Well, you might have to wait a long time....

This artificial island is definitely a very long-term project, maybe 10-30 years in the future, according to the Govt. guy talking on RTHK's backchat this morning....
The location is still wide open and it might be much closer to Cheung Chau or Lantau in the end, if it ever happens which is most doubtful so far. The opposition would be overwhelming and the costs staggering.

Hong Kong Sentosa, anyone? A much better name than "Lamma North", the name they used just a year ago for this artificial island, really getting our attention back then.

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Ha ! Doesn't matter really. It's already 5mn walk form the ferry pier with open seaview (for real...), I can just add "soon easy access to Hong Kong Sentosa fun park and shopping malls"...and voila !
Anyone interested to rent ? (discount applicable for Lammazine readers, subject to terms and conditions).

In the meantime you may, instead of sea view, have a view on fleets of smoking and noisy barges, dredgers and derricks working days and nights. I suppose this was the experience of the few Tung Chung villagers years ago facing the gargantuan reclamation and construction of Chek Lap Kok.

Stupid fucking idea.

For one thing, we'll be downstream from this reclamation (which is more like the Palm Islands in Dubai than Sentosa, which is a natural island). So we'll get all the run off and polluted seepage from the sludge they dump to make them and the construction later. Including millions of styrofoam lunchboxes and water bottles the workers throw away, on our shores and beaches.

Thousands of hectares in the NT covered with building rubble and containers, just cancel the "agricultural" leases that have been comprehensively abused, pay fair compensation, tell the Heung Yee Kuk to screw themselves. They already have the transport, water, power infrastructure laid out. But the government doesn't have the balls, they'd rather spend untold billions and dump crap in the harbour than face down the HYK.

The public consultation has begun:
http://59.188.14.60/~landpe2/preview/a6.php?lang=eng

Possible locations for the "Artificial Islands in Central Waters" - new name after they've changed the name from "Lamma North", as they called it just last year - the area for the up to 2,400 hectares, all the way down to the future Lamma Windfarm, see below.

To give you an idea of the size proposed, all of Lamma Island is only 1,355 hectares (13.55 square km). So we might get a bigger sister island not too far off and well visible from all off North Lamma, in just another decade or two?

The maximum size has increased from 20 to 24 square km just since yesterday and the location has shifted from the SCMP map yesterday back down many kms to close to Lamma again, on the official website:
http://www.landsupply.hk/preview/index.php?lang=eng

Yes, our Govt. planners are dreaming really big, probably from whatever they've been smoking...
But they have the real power and cash in the bank to make even their biggest dreams a reality...

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Have these people forgotten that Hong Kong is a part of China? Fully, in 2047.

Thirty years to build, you say, that's 2043.

Sure China is crowded but nothing like Hong Kong.

Makes no sense.