Land reclamation: can brownfields “save” the future of Hong Kong?

Hong Kong’s primary land reclamation area in Central (Vetter, 2018)

People always say they want to help the world through different means like saving paper or increasing land reclamation to generate more housing and boost the economy, but the irony is that the very thing we are trying to improve is also stabbing us in the back.

Hong Kong comprises several small islands carrying over seven million people. With minimal space, the government plans to reclaim land from the sea to create space for infrastructure. 

Unfortunately, the long-term negative effects of land reclamation far outweigh its few short-term benefits. Land reclamation is a financial and ethical nightmare, which does nothing but harm the lives of animals, increase our tax payments, and make a city unsafe. I don’t want my home to become Atlantis and disappear in the water — it’s imperative that land reclamation must be stopped.

According to Naz Mukazhanova, a geography teacher working at RCHK, land reclamation “buries flora and fauna and causes enormous pollution which might lead to the extinction of animals and plants in the ocean.” A perfect example of the destructive effects of land reclamation in Hong Kong would be the devastating loss of the Chinese White Dolphins, who have been living in our waters since the 1600s. According to the Agricuture, Fisheries and Conservation Department’s data, “Chinese white dolphin abundance has fallen in Hong Kong waters by almost 80% over the past 18 years.” Chasing a local marine animal away by reclaiming land will dwindle the scarce number of dolphins left in Hong Kong. Is reclaiming more land worth the price of losing our Chinese white dolphins? 

Chinese white dolphins play a significant role in the world’s biodiversity and food chain. With 3.1 billion people relying on fish as their primary source of protein and nutrients, conserving our marine life plays a crucial role in maintaining fish stocks. If we don’t have enough fish, we would lose a vital food source.

But the effects are also largely economical. There’s no other way to phrase this: land reclamation is an expensive waste of taxpayers’ money. For example, the third runway built in 2022 cost 56.2 billion Hong Kong dollars. Those 56.2 billion dollars could have been put to better use, such as building more hospitals and improving education for students in public schools. Mukazhanova finds it risky and unreasonable to use tax money for the land reclamation project. Instead, she believes that “there is a lot of brownfield land in HK which is used for storing containers and other garbage that could be used for building new houses and buildings.”

Using taxpayer money for land reclamation limits the amount of money available for vital services. Can you imagine the good you could do for society if you had 56 billion dollars? And what good would your money do if your reclaimed land isn’t even safe to build on?

“I know that most of the areas, including the business sectors in Tsim Sha Tsui and Central, are built on reclaimed land,” Mukazhanova noted. 

I would hate to see Hong Kong’s most business-ridden, most touristy, most popular areas turn to mush and sink into the ocean like Atlantis due to soil liquefaction. Soil liquefaction occurs when the soil from the ground loses its strength due to constant exposure towards water, making the land “sink.” 

With Hong Kong being one of the most overpopulated places in the world, further development would be required to benefit people, businesses and natural marine wildlife. For people currently living or planning on living in apartment complexes built on reclaimed land, there would be a higher chance of your building sinking. A safer solution to land reclamation is to use our country parks instead. 

However, this has a drawback. In order to fulfil this further development need, we would have to destroy several of our country parks in the process. “I am against using country parks,” argued Mukazhanova, “since they help to reduce temperature and risks of urban heat caused by concrete buildings and lack of trees.”

A smarter, safer, and sensible solution would be to use our brownfield land instead of reclaiming land, destroying country parks, and endangering people’s lives. Brownfield sites are land that was previously used for industrial purposes such as abandoned factories and gas stations. “There is a lot of brownfield land around Hong Kong that could be used to build residential buildings,” explained Mukazhanova. We’ve seen the successful use of brownfields as the government is in the process of building 480,000 residential units within ten years in areas such as Wu Kai Sha and Yuen Long.  

As you can see, the long-term negative effects of land reclamation exceed the few short-term benefits of it, especially when there is already a working solution in Hong Kong. Land reclamation destroys wildlife, extorts us out of tax funds, and puts us at severe risk. I urge the Chief of Lands Department to cease all active projects relating to land reclamation and reconsider using brownfields as a solution of land creation.