The Hong Kong Golf Club has been given the green light to host a Saudi-backed golf tournament at Fanling golf course, a month after the government takes back a 32-hectare section of the course for public housing and recreational use.
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said the plot would be handed over to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department for “conservation and passive recreational facilities” available to residents.
But the government will lend the 32 hectares back to the golf club from mid-September to mid-November so it can stage October’s Aramco Team Series championship.
“The government’s measures have all along been meant to support large-scale sporting events. The [LCSD] will lease the course to the club on a short-term basis for the tournament based on the actual situation, from mid-September to mid-November,” Yeung told a press conference on Thursday.
After the tournament, the LCSD will conduct maintenance work and gradually open the site to the public in December.
Populism
On the same day, Senior Counsel Ronny Tong, one of the Executive Councillors who are members of the Club, wrote in a Ming Pao op-ed that the previous administration’s decision to take back the plot was a concession to “populist thinking.”
Asked if resuming the course was indeed a “populist” move, Yeung said land use policies must “strike a balance between the different needs and interests of society.”
The Environmental Protection Department in May gave conditional approval to a plan to build subsidised housing for 33,600 residents on a nine-hectare plot at Fanling course — part of the 32-hectare plot slated to be taken over by the government on September 1 after the golf club’s private recreational lease expires.
Vicky Jones, director of the Aramco championship, last month threatened to pull the competition out of Hong Kong “if the government presses on with the public housing plan.”
Jones told a Town Planning Board meeting the Fanling course was the only venue in the city suitable for the event.
The golf club also hopes to host one leg of the Saudi-backed LIV tournament next year.
Chief Executive John Lee has said the government’s move to take back the plot would not affect the venue’s suitability for hosting large-scale tournaments on the course, which currently covers a total area of 172 hectares.
‘No consideration of prestige’
Separately, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn told the Legislative Council on Thursday the government would not handle the golf course issue “based on considerations of social class or prestige,” adding that authorities would only “seek truth from facts.”
“The previous administration’s intention was simply to take back 32 hectares of the course,” Linn said, reiterating former chief executive Carrie Lam’s plan. “The plan to build public housing on the northernmost tip of that plot will have to be studied further.”
She added that more than 20 hectares of public land left over from any housing would be accessible to residents.
The development chief’s remarks came just a month after she said the government “might not be able to [build 12,000 flats],” following the redesignation of the proposed land use of the nine-hectare plot from “residential” to “undetermined.”
The Planning Department will have to formulate a draft plan by the statutory deadline of end-November, after which the Town Planning Board will discuss the plan and start a 12-month review process.
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