Hong Kong needs a long-term statutory master plan for its development, the architect of modern Singapore has said while sharing his wealth of experience from the city state.
Liu Thai Ker, the 85-year-old former CEO of Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority who developed the country’s 50-year master development plan in 1991, suggested a similar model for Hong Kong.
Speaking to the Post after attending the Future City International Summit in Hong Kong on Thursday, Liu said such a plan, based on population projection, could list all necessary land uses in a 50-year period, including controversial ones such as the proposal to build public homes on part of the oldest golf course in the city.
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“If you have a master plan, you calculate the land you need for development, you can keep the golf courses as we did,” Liu said.
Singapore reviews its long-term broad development strategies every decade and produces statutory city master plans every five years on permissible land use and density.
Hong Kong has the 2030 Plus blueprint for city planning till 2048 on estimated land demands and living density, but it is only a framework. It also has statutory outline zoning plans for different districts.
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Amid calls for more affordable homes, especially for low-income residents, the Hong Kong government has proposed developing nine hectares of the 172-hectare Fanling golf course for public housing, but the sports and business sectors have strongly opposed the move.
Hong Kong, with a population of 7.3 million, has six golf courses, including the Fanling site in question. Singapore has 17 golf courses with a population of 5.6 million.
“There is no world standard [on the ratio between population and the number of golf courses]. But in Singapore, we believe that golf courses [are] also good for business ... So don’t look at golf courses as a waste of land. It has economic value,” Liu said.
He added that authorities should assess factors equally – including economic and social ones – noting that certain land uses could be beneficial for multiple purposes.
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The architect also said the city plan should be made statutory and be able to convince the public.
“[If] it’s a legal document, regardless of who [is] the new government, who are the leaders, [they] cannot change the plan unless they go through a proper process,” Liu said.
“[You] must deliver what you promised the people in order to earn people’s confidence in you, trust in you ... Then they will support the master plan.”
Liu added that mega developments should be planned in tandem to maintain cohesiveness, referring to Hong Kong’s proposed 30,000-hectare Northern Metropolis near the border with mainland China, and an ambitious bid to build three artificial islands under the Lantau Tomorrow Vision initiative.
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As some local politicians and experts have called for prioritising between the two economic and housing hubs due to cost and demand, Liu said the city should strive to produce a “realistic” long-term population projection for planning.
“[If] you plan a short-term plan, then the population grows beyond that, then you have to add another plan. That means you don’t get a coherent plan. That’s not very desirable,” he warned.
Thomas Lee Kin-wah, immediate past president of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners, agreed that the government could look into forming a statutory master plan to coordinate different bureaus and projects.
He said critics had questioned if the two mega developments could proceed simultaneously, and if there was a master plan, then projects that had to be done would be listed out to avoid dispute.
Lee added that such a plan could offer the city a development timeline to facilitate private projects.
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But lawmaker and planner Andrew Lam Siu-lo said it was hard to follow Singapore and plan for Hong Kong based on future population.
He pointed to Singapore’s land development being more government-led while Hong Kong had more participation from the private sector. “The way of handling can be very different.”
Lam said Singapore was “a country with actual borders”, whereas Hong Kong, being part of a country and also a jurisdiction within the Greater Bay Area, “should focus on integration”.
He was referring to Beijing’s plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into a regional powerhouse rivalling Silicon Valley.
Lam added that Hong Kong could do better planning on infrastructure to support industry policies, such as equipping sites with sufficient water and electricity supply to cater to innovation and technology development needs.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong determined to build public housing on golf course despite recent objections at town planning hearings: development chief
- Hong Kong Town Planning Board rejects proposal to switch 2 prime sites at former Kai Tak airport from commercial to housing use
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