The programme was part of the Port and Airport Development Strategy, commonly known as the Rose Garden Project.

[2] The Programme formally commenced after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between British Prime Minister John Major and Chinese Premier Li Peng in Beijing on 3 September 1991, and lasted eight years in total.

However, for financial and political reasons, the plan was abandoned in 1951 and the Hong Kong Government decided to expand the original airport instead.

The government earmarked Chek Lap Kok, just off the north coast of Lantau Island near Tung Chung, as the designated site for the new airport.

However, the plan was shelved in 1983 for economic reasons, as well as the question of Hong Kong's sovereignty and the impending signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

[3] The plan was announced on 11 October 1989 by the then Governor David Wilson, and it was perceived to be part of the government's effort to reinstate confidence in Hong Kong after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

[4] The programme was completed with the opening of the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok in July 1998.

Reclamation work was needed along the west coast of Kowloon Peninsula to provide land for the expressway, Route 3, as well as supporting infrastructure.

This phase required the reclamation of an area of 20 hectares (49 acres) along the waterfront of Central to provide land for the Airport Railway's Hong Kong station.

The first phase of the new town in Northern Lantau is centred on Tung Chung and was planned to provide housing to 18,000 people.