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the natural environment of Lantau through education, recreation and eco-
tourism.

Lantau Island measures 147 sq km, 70% of which is Country
Park. The Country Parks Ordinance protects the designated areas with
stringent constraints on development. Yet, protection does not mean
zero construction. Indeed, Section 4(c) of the Ordinance also states that
the government should “encourage their (the Country Park’s) use and
development for the purposes of recreation and tourism” and “provide
facilities and services for the public enjoyment of country parks and
special areas”. Hence, we recommend the government to enhance the
accessibility to the country parks on the Lantau Island through road
improvement.

OHKF also supports the idea of designating a coastal park on
southern Lantau Island, with the southern shoreline preserved as a Coastal
Protection Area to protect the natural coastline from development.

5.7 Suggestion 5: Establi shing
a Dedicated Office for Lantau

Development

The Lantau Development involves a myriad of different
issues, ranging from land, housing, commerce, population, education,
to environment, conservation and transportation. However, these
inextricably linked issues that should be considered holistically transcend
the purviews across multiple policy bureaux and cannot always be dealt
with solely by the Development Bureau, which is in charge of land policy.
In the implementation of the Lantau Development, a centralised and
dedicated office should be established to coordinate the project in a cross-
bureau manner to minimise the inefficiencies that might emerge due to
bureaucracy.

Furthermore, it may take more than a decade for the development
to be completed. A centralised unit, chaired by a top official (possibly led
by the Chief Secretary for Administration or the Financial Secretary at the
initial stage), should be set up to oversee the development. The unit should
be supported by bureaux and departments across the Administration and
given the authority to carry out all policy measures related to the Lantau
Development. As a reference, the Energising Kowloon East Office is an
example of a dedicated office, which comprises of members from various
government departments to steer the development of Kowloon East in a
“one-stop” manner.

5.8 The Lantau Development: a
“mission-critical” project for Hong Kong

Lantau Island houses Tung Chung New Town, the last new town
established in the city, which was completed at around the turn of the
millennium. As discussed in Chapter 4, the said new town unfortunately

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