Before this becomes another green vs development question, it is fair to say that the HK authorities have, at best, a spotted record in taking care of the small pieces of land they do have: The Lamar site in Central, which could have been an AWESOME outdoor space with greenery, pubs, bars and restaurants is instead being concreted to oblivion and a distinctly uncharming edifice is coming up. In that connection, they just as well built more road along the waterfront too, instead of making it a promenade a la Clarke's Quay in Singapore. Imagine how pleasant it could be to have a corridor along the waterfront from IFC and Star Ferry (don't get me started on the horrors of the new terminal!) to the Lamar site.

So, honestly, environment is much spoken of, done litte about, in HK - and you don't have to be a batik-wearing, Scholl-sandal donning enviro to see this. The concerns, whether they shave off mountaintops or build a new island or fill in seabed, are justified: Once done, it cannot really be undone if the consequences are worse than expected. Hence the strict focus on doing the homework properly before even sticking a shovel in the ground. If they want to do this, best do it properly and get in a world-class team of experts in Environmental Impact Assessments. This needs credibility.

If they really estimate the cost to HKD 80 billion (reported in SCMP), I just wonder how much high-speed rail straight to f.ex. Shenzhen airport they could get for that kind of money. And then use SZH to handle some or most of the China traffic. The transfer would of course have to be a h**l of a lot better than the transfer from Macau to HKIA, but that is a needlessly poor benchmark. Or use the underutilised Macau airport, assuming the transfer-issues can be sorted (go straight to your plane, no fussing about with security checks again and again, no need to do immigration in HK or Macau, etc.).

I just really hope that the authorities don't get too keen on concrete again until they have checked that they can not get better bang for their bucks by expanding the capacity of HK through different means.