Proposed twin high-rises along Hung Hom harbourfront will not block iconic Lion Rock ridgeline, gov’t says

A proposed twin-tower project to be built along the Hung Hom harbourfront will not block the view of the city’s Lion Rock ridgeline, a senior official has said.

Permanent Secretary for Development (Planning and Lands) said on an RTHK radio programme on Wednesday morning that the iconic ridgeline will not be blocked by the proposed buildings as the mountain can be viewed from multiple angles.

Ho said the development project that the high rises are part of, which will also include new facilities for yachts, will boost urban renewal and bring vitality to the community.

According to a Legislative Council (LegCo) paper submitted to the Panel on Development on Tuesday, the two towers will be 236 metres high and 184 metres high respectively. They will be designated for residential and commercial uses.

A viewing platform will connect the two towers and serve “as an uncovered leisure/event space providing a spectacular, breath-taking view of the Victoria Harbour with the skyline as the backdrop,” according to the document.

The towers will also house a yacht club, while a proposed marina will provide a total of around 200 berthing spaces.

On Tuesday, Fredo Cheung, an arts lecturer at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, said on TVB that the proposed twin towers might affect the Lion Rock ridgeline as the buildings may be over 50 floors.

“Everyone knows that the Lion Rock is very closely tied to Hong Kong culture. If there is a development in front of it tall enough to block the view, causing us to be unable to see the Lion Rock, that indirectly diminishes the cultural landscape,” he said in Cantonese.

Lawmakers’ concerns

Several legislators, including tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu, expressed concerns during the LegCo’s Panel on Development meeting on Tuesday that the new development will cause the harbourfront too crowded to host the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Festival.

Ho said in response that the government believes the dragon boat event can “co-exist” with the new development and will review if there are any problems.

Yiu also asked if the proposed viewing platform will be freely open to the public or run “commercially.” The official said that this was under consideration.

Lawmaker Andrew Lam, chair of the Panel on Development, said that the construction of the viewing platform will be a significant cost for developers. Lam asked if the viewing platform is just a conceptual idea or if it will be incorporated into the tender terms.

Ho said that authorities will decide later how to incorporate specific requests into tender terms.

The government’s latest proposal is a revision of its previous planned project, with a higher percentage of land earmarked for residential purposes and public space rather than commercial use.

Around 33 per cent of land is now slated for commercial purposes, down from the initially proposed 57 per cent.

Meanwhile, a previous plan to build four waterfront residential towers was scrapped in favour of building a public open space, reducing the overall number of buildings in the development from 10 to six.

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Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing.