A think tank founded by Tung Chee Hwa has called for the construction of a 2200-hectare island south of Cheung Chau to house the city’s container port.

Our Hong Kong Foundation says this will free up the 940-hectare Kwai Chung port for housing. Deputy executive director Stephen Wong told RTHK the new site “hopefully has a lower environmental impact.”

The proposal, in a submission to the 2030+ plan, calls for reclamation on western Lamma and bridge links from the new port east to Hong Kong Island via Lamma and west to the proposed East Lantau Metropolis. The scale of the proposed artificial island terminal is on a scale similar to the ELM, which is suggested to be somewhere between 1000 and 2400 hectares.

Wong said the city’s medium and long term housing supply lags far behind target and required immediate large-scale land development.

OHKF also suggests reclamation around Po Toi island to hold the city’s prison facilities. Lantau hosts four prisons, and another two are located on Hei Ling Chau, with total capacity of 2900.

OHKF’s plan

The foundation says Hong Kong needs to carry out large scale reclamation to support different development projects, including the release of privately-owned land through a public-private cooperation model.

Said Wong:

“Instead of just thinking about having a low target of new supply of land in the New Territories – which we think should continue – but given the difficulties and given the size of the new towns, we should certainly think outside of the Victoria Harbour for large scale reclamation for predominantly subsidised housing”