In a wide-ranging interview with Sing Tao, The Standard's sister paper, Tang said a major logistics park, to be built on 70 hectares of reclaimed land near the airport in North Lantau, would be the top priority among a plethora of developments planned for the island.

Tang is head of the Lantau Development Task Force, a "high-level policy body'' set up in February to focus on the island's economic and infrastructure development. Members of the Legislative Council's planning, lands and works panel were briefed by a district planning officer on Tuesday on details of the "conceptual plan'' for Lantau development, which includes golf courses, spas, resorts and bicycle tracks among others.

"Lantau has a larger development potential than West and East Kowloon combined. These developments will be crucial to Hong Kong's economic development and will contribute a lot to employment as well. We have to plan everything carefully,'' Tang said in the interview.

The plan, which roughly divides the island into infrastructure development in the north and nature conservation in the south, was "just a large framework'', Tang said.

"The process should be transparent and we would like to see more public participation,'' he stressed.

Lantau is now an "oasis'' and the proximity of country parks to the city is one of Hong Kong's major assets, he said, emphasising that the island would not be transformed into a purely commercial venture.

"Many people now visit Hong Kong to shop, but not a lot appreciate its natural beauty. We need to develop other modes of tourism,'' he said.

"It is most important to reach a balance between development and conservation. There will be natural conservation to offer more choices to visitors.''

While Tang said development items in the plan could be added or taken out, subject to public views, the logistics park at Siu Ho Wan was a definite priority and construction would begin as soon as possible. "It is essential for the logistics hub to work in line with the Hong Kong section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok link.''

The proposed HK$8 billion container terminal, pushed by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa in his policy address early this year, was not mentioned in the conceptual plan.

Development will focus on four main themes, according to the plan.

The first is economic infrastructure and tourism, under which a possible theme park is mentioned.

Tang said the theme park would not be in direct competition with Disneyland, which is set to open in October 2006.

"Assuming one in every two mainland tourists would wish to visit Disneyland at least once, the park's capacity will not be enough to accommodate the demand,'' he said.

"Another theme park would absorb the visitor flow as well as cater to non-family groups.''

In the same category are the logistics park, a cross-boundary transport hub, a tourism hub at Sunny Bay, a golf course and resort in North East Lantau, and resort facilities in South Lantau.

Private resources would be considered in the development of resort and spa facilities, said Tang. These facilities are expected to target Hong Kongers who now travel to Thailand for leisure.

"Lantau will be much more convenient compared with Thailand.''

Developers have also approached the government with various tourism proposals, Tang said, including a yacht club at Discovery Bay and a Formula Three race track near the logistics park.

A second key area are attractions based on heritage, local character and natural landscape. These include a museum of Lantau, an eco-tour centre and preserving the Tai O fishing village.

The government will also invest in giving Mui Wo a facelift, which includes possible reclamation to build a waterfront piazza. South Lantau will become home to government-built watersports centres, boardwalks and a bicycle track network which includes a 37 kilometre mountain bike trail.

Public consultation is expected to begin by the end of this year, according to Tang.

While welcoming the government's commitment to sustainability and eventual public involvement in the planning process, Lantau green groups expressed their disappointment that the task force had not sought their views from the start.

"We are long-time residents of the island and our members have many good ideas the task force could make good use of. I'm afraid we can't get terribly excited about the concept plan without even seeing it,'' Green Lantau Association spokesman Clive Noffke said.

The logistics park will be a priority but Tang would give no timetable. The projects would not be undertaken at the same time to ensure Lantau would not become "a construction site'', he said.

sylvia.hui@globalchina.com