Billy Hau Chi-hang, an advisor on the Country and Marine Parks Board, is also opposed to interfering with the protected land. Building of the infrastructure would also increase the burden on the parks' ecosystem, he said. Hau pointed out that the majority of country parks are located on rugged terrain, making engineering difficult and expensive.

If parkland must be used, it's better to build commercial buildings rather than public housing on them, for the former is more profitable, says Hau. However, given the way the citizens have come to feel a sense of ownership toward Hong Kong's country parks in the past 40 years, plans to develop a private enterprise would invariably face great public scrutiny, Hau said.

The Housing Society said the lands under assessment would be used only to build public housing or retirement homes, if the project takes off. The report would be submitted after 18 months.

The AFCD does not seem to have a well-charted course of action in mind, should they need to protect the parks from being built on. Wong says the parks are under the protection of the Country Parks Ordinance. It would not be easy to amend the law, he pointed out.

Contact the writer at dara@chinadailyhk.com