Hong Kong to build $79bn artificial island

HONG KONG: Hong Kong plans to build one of the world's largest artificial islands with an eye-watering $79 billion price tag, city officials announced Tuesday.

The government's HK$624 billion proposal to reclaim 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land around the territory's largest island, Lantau, has been touted as a solution to the pressing housing shortage in the city, which is notorious as one of the least affordable markets on the planet.

Authorities said they hope to start work on reclaiming land in 2025, with an eye on allowing residents to move to the island in 2032. The artificial island -- the city's most expensive infrastructure project to date -- would be four times the cost of building Hong Kong International Airport, which opened on Lantau in 1998, and far outstrip Dubai's famous palm-tree shaped Palm Jumeirah, which reportedly cost $12 billion to build. 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 percent of which would be used for public housing, the government has said. But critics say 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.