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The Improvement Bureau stated in its response it’s obliged to take ahead land provide tasks as “vigorously” as it will probably to deal with the acute housing downside, including the housing growth throughout the Fanling golf course is without doubt one of the vital sources of public housing provide throughout the subsequent 10 years.
In a controversial transfer, nevertheless, the federal government in June recategorised the location as “undetermined” from “residential”, saying extra time was wanted to conduct an environmental influence evaluation.
The uncommon measure drew criticism from NGOs who questioned whether or not the golf course could be redeveloped as deliberate by 2029.
As well as, the federal government stated within the listening to it had recognized land to construct 360,000 public housing items within the subsequent 10 years, 59,000 greater than the estimated demand throughout the identical interval. Some imagine that could possibly be grounds to scrap the redevelopment.
NGOs say solely a small variety of folks benefit from the golf course whereas lots of the metropolis’s 7.3 million folks reside in cramped areas.
“If it (authorities) overturns its determination after so many consultations and evaluations, it’d be towards its integrity and an ideal setback to the general public housing coverage,” stated Ms Sze Lai Shan, deputy director of the Society of Neighborhood Organisation.
Opponents of the plan say the placement lacks the infrastructure for an inflow of habitants, and elevated land provide within the space in the previous couple of years has made the redevelopment plan pointless.
Additionally they say the golf course is house to wildlife and vegetation, together with one among Asia’s final remaining groves of the critically endangered Chinese language swamp cypress, and most of all, Hong Kong will lose its attract as a world monetary centre.
In a contemporary effort, the Hong Kong Golf Membership utilized for the 2023 Unesco Asia Pacific Cultural Heritage Conservation Award for the Fanling course in early July to reaffirm its historic and nature conservation worth. The appliance remains to be being processed.
Hong Kong has eight 18-hole programs, in comparison with Singapore’s 14. Three of those programs are within the Fanling golf course positioned near the border with mainland China. Opened for play in 1911, it’s the oldest championship course in Asia.
Taking away 32ha would imply eight holes will fall underneath the administration of the federal government, a change that had initially led the Saudi-backed Aramco Workforce Collection (ATS) to rethink internet hosting the occasion within the metropolis in October.
It confirmed on Wednesday it will go forward as deliberate after the federal government final week agreed to quickly lend the 32ha again to the golf membership, though the destiny of Hong Kong’s bid to host LIV Golf early subsequent yr in addition to future {golfing} occasions is unclear.
Mr Amr El Henawy, a former Egyptian Consul-Common who has lived in Hong Kong since 2020, stated if the town fails to maintain its worldwide golf tournaments it might lose out to different Chinese language and Asian cities at a time when it strives to rebuild its picture after Covid-19 and a China-imposed nationwide safety legislation.
Hong Kong’s golfers gird up for battle as housing coverage threatens famed course
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