As per city’s officials, Hong Kong is planning to build one of the world’s largest artificial islands with an eye-watering $79 billion price tag. The government’s HK$624 billion offer to reclaim 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land around the territory’s largest island, Lantau, has been plugged as a solution to the pressing housing shortage in the city.
According to authorities, work on reclaiming the land will begin in 2025, with an eye on allowing residents to move to the island in 2032.
This artificial island will also be the city’s most expensive infrastructure project to date. It would be 4 times the cost of building Hong Kong International Airport, which opened on Lantau in 1998.
The man-made island would be nearly three times the size of New York’s Central Park and provide up to 260,000 flats, more than 70% of which would be used for public housing.
Critics claim the vast reclamation project is too costly and could damage the environment, especially marine life, with many also expressing frustration over the lack of a public say in the plans.
Authorities are also planning to build another 700-hectare artificial island around Lantau but have not released any further details about that project or its cost.
Lantau island is also home to a new mega bridge launched last year, billed as the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong to neighboring Macau and mainland China.
Campaigners have also warned that the declining number of much-loved pink dolphins in waters surrounding Lantau may disappear altogether due to large-scale infrastructure projects.
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