Harbour Primer

Why the fuss about Victoria Harbour?

Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong's Development

Impacts of Reclamation

Protection of the Harbour Ordinance - what the law can do

However, even the law is insufficient to protect Victoria Harbour

Impacts of Reclamation

Reclamation affects us all. There are economic, social, political and environmental impacts:

1. Strategic Planning: Harbour reclamation focussed development on the harbour area at the expense of other parts of the city. It contributed to isolating Hong Kong from the Pearl River Delta hinterland even as economic activities began moving across the border from the 1980s onwards.

2. Urban Renewal: The ease with which new land could be created by reclamation resulted in lazy planning, which in turn resulted in a failure on the part of the Government to devise effective urban regeneration policies. Vast tracks of development in the urban areas remain dilapidated and under-utilised today.

3. Land Policy: Reclamation generated land for the Government to sell, the proceeds for which were used to finance roads and other waterfront infrastructure, which in turn fed the government's 'high land price policy' for many years.

4. Amenity Value: Victoria Harbour has substantial amenity value in a world that increasingly places recreational pursuits as key to a high quality of life. That value is overtaking any supposed benefits arising from continuing harbour reclamation.

5. Aesthetic Value: Reclamation, together with the lack of control to protect the skyline and visual integrity of Hong Kong's natural landscape in the harbour area, has diminished the city's overall beauty, which damages tourism opportunities as well as diminishing residents' enjoyment of the city.

6. Harbour Safety: Victoria Harbour has been significantly narrowed, which creates a less safe environment for shipping and other water activities as water currents become much stronger and space to manouever is reduced.

7. Congestion Creation: Each new reclamation project has resulted in additional commercial and residential development, which in turn has generated further traffic demands that require yet more roads and more reclamation for roads.

8. Traffic Management: Coupled with the Government's preference for new road provisions to relieve traffic - rather than using traffic demand-management methods - road systems along the harbour front on Hong Kong Island have taken precedence over aesthetics, pollution control and thereby also public health. Alternatives to the simple addition of more roadways have not been fully explored.

9. Landscape Destruction: Harbour reclamation has resulted in the permanent destruction of Hong Kong's most valuable and irreplaceable natural asset.

10. Air Pollution: Intensive development of the reclaimed areas has substantially and dangerously increased air pollution in the urban area.

11. Contaminated Mud: Soft mud on the bottom of the harbour is heavily contaminated with heavy metals and organic chemicals. Dredging - a necessary part of reclamation - stirs up the mud and releases some of those contaminants into the water.

12. Mud Dumping: The contaminated mud is dumped in an area near Chek Lap Kok airport, which is close to a marine park where pink dolphins swim.

13. Flushing Action: Reclamation narrows the harbour and potentially creates "dead spots" where there is little flushing tidal action, and where litter and sewage could accumulate.

14. Loss of Habitat: The loss of natural coastlines could result in the loss of habitats and shallow feeding areas for many inter-tidal creatures that live in shallow sandy bays or on rocky shorelines.

15. Governance and Good Faith: The rushed award of the works contract for Central Reclamation Phase III raised doubts about whether the hurry was related to the Society for Protection of the Harbour's application for a judicial review on the Town Planning Board's approval of the Wanchai Development Plan Phase II. The award was the subject of an arbitration hearing, where the Review Body ruled that it was made in "undue haste". The effect the Government's "precipitous action" had been "to render nugatory any substantive recommendation that this Panel could make." The Panel noted that the correct procedure would have been for the authorities to give an opportunity to the tenderers to reconsider their tender submissions.

16. Rule of Law: The Society for Protection of the Harbour's successful judicial review against the Town Planning Board's approved plan for Wanchai Development Plan Phase II in effect required the Chief Executive-in-Council to refer the Central Reclamation Phase III back to the Town Planning Board for review. The Government's unwillingness to do so to date raises questions about its commitment to due process and the rule of law.

17. Civic Action: Excessive harbour reclamation has ignited public interest to protect and preserve Victoria Harbour. Where even the law fails to adequately protect the harbour, civic action needs to take over.