Lantau plan funding facing public scrutiny

The public have expressed doubts on the financing of a government plan to reclaim three artificial islands off Lantau under the Lantau Tomorrow mega project, a government public consultation report has shown.

Environmental groups criticized the government for releasing the consultation report in a "sneaky" way, saying the report lacked credibility.

In the report published Sunday night, the government said that among the 7,800 public comments received during the consultation that ended in March, some 60 percent backed the development plan, 25 percent opposed it and 15 percent - while not indicating a preference - put forward opinions and raised questions on various aspects.

Of all the comments received, about 30 percent weighed on possible financing options with the greatest concern being placed on the economic benefits projected by the government and risk mitigation of the plan.

"On projected revenues, there were doubts of overestimation in view of the recent downturn of the property market and land value," the report said.

"Some comments benchmarked the performance of recent land sales and reckoned that the land sale revenue of the development plan could be far less than the government's estimate," it added.

Some cited a lack of confidence in the future property market among developers, according to the report.

The report also revealed concerns on how the development would be managed to mitigate financial risks whereas some considered the yield being too low with reference to the construction cost of HK$580 billion and projected revenues of HK$750 billion.

"There were requests for the government to provide more information and a breakdown of the costs of reclamation, infrastructure facilities and strategic transport infrastructure of the development, as well as land sale revenues and economic benefits," the report said.

"The government was also advised to adhere to the principles of exercising fiscal prudence to keep expenditure within the projected revenue and commit resources to public finance management."

Apart from financing options, the public also commented on areas including reclamation (40 percent), land use on the three reclaimed land masses (50 percent) and strategic transport infrastructure (30 percent).

The report said a majority supported the proposed three-island design with a Y-shape channel separating the artificial islands in the interest of water quality, ecology and conservation of nearby natural islands.

In particular, a comment said the clover shape made up by the three islands could be an "auspicious symbol" for Hong Kong.

But Greenpeace slammed the "sneaky" way the results were released.

"The release of the report was only briefly mentioned on their Facebook post on Sunday evening, without an official press conference, press release. [The release] has no credibility at all," the group said.

The group said the report repeated official responses and failed to address citizens' doubts in a concrete manner, accusing officials of selectively stating some comments and amplifying the supporting ones.

Greenpeace said the report mentioned a majority of the public supported the plan but did not back the claim with evidence. It called on the government to shelve the Lantau Tomorrow plan as soon as possible.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com