Opinion | Time to consider housing development in fringe areas of country parks

By Chow Pak-chin

For as long as I can remember, a shortage of land has been plaguing Hong Kong, and that means decades. In a city of 7.4 million people, we have 1,180 square kilometers of land equaling a population density of approximately 6,271 people per sq km — roughly the size of Peng Chau.

However, only 24 percent of the city has been developed. And even more astounding, only 7 percent of our total land — which equals 82.6 sq km — has been allocated for residential use.

This means Hong Kong's actual population density is 89,588 people per sq km, and that's not even considering the mountainous terrain of many parts of the city.

It's no surprise that a 2021 population census revealed that the average living space per resident was a mere 172 square feet (16 square meters), which is the size of a parking space. Worse, some 300,000 residents are living in subdivided units of these already-small apartments. This brings the average living space down to 66 square feet per person.

I have visited some of these units myself when conducting home visits for free eye examinations. There, I observed many young children having to squat on small chairs to do their homework. In these cramped conditions, there is no space for a proper desk and supportive chair. Something as basic as good lighting is out of the question.

As a healthcare professional, specifically as an ophthalmologist, my major concern for these children is repetitive eye strain and myopia. But I also know that hunching over for extended periods — especially at such a formative stage in their physical development — will lead to musculoskeletal disorders and other debilitating physical conditions.

During the recent heat wave, numerous government reports revealed that indoor temperatures were higher inside these subdivided flats than they were outside. Even with two air conditioners and four fans installed in some units, inside temperatures remained at 30 C.

Many residents are painfully aware of this reality, which has also drawn the attention of the central government.

During the 13th National People's Congress in 2021, Vice-Premier Han Zheng, who is also head of the Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macao Affairs, told our then-chief executive, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, that the city's housing crisis was at a boiling point.

"Although this is an extremely difficult issue to tackle, we still need to start the work. If we put this problem aside without coming to a consensus or any kind of solution, then the interests of the people of Hong Kong will undoubtedly suffer," he said.

And as recently as July during President Xi Jinping's trip for the handover anniversary, in his important speech he mentioned that Hong Kong residents should have more spacious homes to live in.

The ecological value of Hong Kong's green spaces will not be put aside, but it is simply untenable and unethical to continue ignoring the value of human life in our city by letting so many people live in undesirable conditions

Some opinion leaders have put forward plans to introduce rent control throughout the city to prevent landlords from introducing unreasonably high rent hikes. At present, some subdivided units are more expensive than luxury flats in Hong Kong in terms of rent per square foot.

In theory, it is a sound idea. But in practice, it may deter owners from renting out their property at all. Many tenants may be forced out of their current homes, as renting would no longer be profitable for landlords.

What the city is in dire need of is supply-side management, not demand-side; namely, more land for building more housing, particularly public housing.

Only a few weeks ago, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po proposed that the fringes of Tai Lam Country Park — the second-largest country park in Hong Kong — should be set aside to build 35,000 public housing units. A good idea, yes, but it is certainly not a new one.

In 2017, then-chief executive Leung Chun-ying's government got the Housing Society, a nonprofit social housing body, to commission a consultancy firm to carry out a feasibility study for the public housing-cum-elderly home project on the fringes of the Tai Lam Country Park, literally outside the Tai Lam Road Tunnel.

The original proposal envisioned using 3.65 hectares for low-density housing for 2,000 senior citizens, and 35,000 public housing units. It was also proposed that these units would be 500 square feet each and cost only HK$6,000 ($765) per unit to build. Last year, Leung revisited the plan and suggested that Hong Kong should go ahead with it, selling these housing units at cost, namely, HK$6,000 per square foot.

However, the study was halted halfway by the Carrie Lam administration as the public consultation on the myriad of land supply proposals failed to secure a majority in its favor.

But with the housing issue as it currently is, we need to at least explore all options that together offer a long-term fix that will allow all residents to live in fair and safe conditions.

Some environmental groups have raised concerns about using the fringe areas of country parks and warned that it could open the floodgates for developing more land, thereby chipping away at their ecological value.

However, the fact is that only a small percentage of this land will be set aside for development. And further to this point, the proposal has to pass an environmental impact study. Stopping a professional study is hardly an objective decision.

The transport infrastructure within the western New Territories where Tai Lam Country Park is located is already extensive and well-developed, so there will be little need to construct additional transport networks. Further, since the commissioning of the consultancy study, no one, the environmental lobby groups included, has been specific as to what flora and fauna might be lost in the study area.

And compared to reclaimed land projects such as the Lantau Tomorrow Vision project and the Northern Metropolis plan, which will require another 20 years and 10 years to complete respectively, Tai Lam is the far-timelier and more-economical option.

Managing the pandemic for nearly three years has cost the SAR government over HK$600 billion so far, so there is simply not enough left in our coffers to finance reclamation projects, which are always costly and time-consuming. I hope Hong Kong can, as soon as it can, abandon the "money is no object" attitude.

Although the landscape of Hong Kong has changed — and not just in physical terms — the consultancy study still holds its merits and ought to be restarted.

The ecological value of Hong Kong's green spaces will not be put aside, but it is simply untenable and unethical to continue ignoring the value of human life in our city by letting so many people live in undesirable conditions. We need to develop land for public housing by taking an objective and scientific approach.

The government needs to revive the consultancy and publish the findings for all to judge, and with total transparency on the environmental impact, it will leave no room for doubt or second-guessing.

And if you are still unconvinced and find my convictions to be environmentally unfriendly, then I strongly urge you, dear reader, to visit these subdivided units and see how a lot of people in Hong Kong are currently suffering from a poor living environment.

(Source: China Daily)

The author is president of think tank, Wisdom Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.