Top architect backs golf club

The Fanling golf course is "more beautiful than Scotland" and is the last place in Hong Kong with cultural, historical and scenic value, says architect Raymond Fung Wing-kee said.

Fung - a former government architect who participated in the construction of various public projects including the City Hall Memorial Garden, Sai Kung Waterfront Park, Hong Kong Wetland Park and Wisdom Path - said residents who would be living in public flats built on the golf course would feel sorry because their homes ruined the beautiful landscape.

Speaking at the Town Planning Board's public hearing yesterday, Fung expressed objection to the government's plan to build 12,000 public housing units on nine hectares of land at the golf course.

Fung said he is not a representative of the Hong Kong Golf Club and "only speaks from his conscience," adding he wishes the city would reserve more outdoor spaces instead of constructing tall buildings.

The government will take back 32 hectares of land at the golf course in September, from which nine hectares will be used for public housing. That represents about 5 percent of the golf course's current size.

But Fung said a "dozen residential buildings with more than 30 stories will still have a negative impact" on the entire public space.

"I fully understand that we have many poor citizens who still live in subdivided units, but it's a shame if we destroy such a large garden for only 12,000 flats," he said.

The environmental impact assessment requires a review of the density of public housing, Fung said.

"This means fewer people would be moving into the public flats there. So with only a few thousand people living in this 'paradise,' how is it different from the current situation in which the golf course is only open to thousands of club members?" he said.

"If I were one of the residents there, I would be under pressure because I know the house I live in destroyed such beautiful scenery of Hong Kong.

"I would feel sorry."

Henderson Investment executive director Li Ning, a former Hong Kong Golf Association chairman, said the government decided to take back land at the golf course for public housing due to land shortage.

But the government is also planning to construct the Northern Metropolis project, which will bring an extra 600 hectares of land and will provide 20,000 public flats, Li said. "It makes more sense for the government to build flats there instead," he added.

Li said the Hong Kong Golf Club has trained world-renowned golfers, including Taichi Kho - who won an Asian Tour event in March - and that it needs to continue to hold international events.

However, Fanling, Sheung Shui and Yuen Long East district planning officer Anthony Luk Kwok-on said the government aims to provide 300,000 public housing units within the next 10 years.

Luk said it will be faster to build public housing at the golf course as authorities will not have to go through land resumption and relocation processes.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com