Shek O from above. (Laurel Chor)
You know it’s bad when the secretary for the environment, KS Wong, has to hold a press conference to let the general public know that the government has no intention of developing country parks for housing.
“The Development Bureau is not going to have any plan to use country parks for making land for housing development,” Wong said.
“They are trying various means to look for land to meet the housing shortage,” he continued.
“Development plans must meet environmental control measures, including air and nature conservation.”
You can’t really blame people for believing otherwise though: for years Secretary for Development Paul Chan has been trying to perform some not-so-subtle inception by casually suggesting the idea of building housing developments in country parks.
In 2013, Chan blogged: “”The development of country parks was seen as a restricted area, if not a taboo. Is it still completely untouchable and unmentionable today?”
He wrote something along the same lines again just last month.
It makes you question what the hell is the purpose of a country park, and whether there is any hope for Hong Kong’s nature.
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