Chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying is planning a shake-up of the government's housing policy, with the financial secretary in his new administration taking responsibility for both public and private housing, according to a source familiar with the restructuring plan.
The new policy was aimed at achieving a coherent approach to housing, by making one minister responsible for policies that were currently divided between two bureaus, the source said.
In a similar move, the deputy financial secretary - a newly created post - will be responsible for strengthening pillar industries such as aviation and shipping, according to the source.
'The chief executive-elect wants to send a political signal through the proposed change that the housing issue will be top priority for his administration,' a source familiar with Leung's restructuring plan said.
Under the current structure, introduced by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in 2007, the Transport and Housing Bureau, which reports to the chief secretary, oversees policies related to public housing and the Housing Society, which manages subsidised housing. Private-housing policies fall under the portfolio of the Development Bureau.
Under Leung's plan, both public and private housing policies, as well as the Urban Renewal Authority and the Housing Society, will be placed under a policy bureau answerable to the financial secretary. This is one of the options being deliberated by Leung. A final decision will be made after taking into account the work load of a single policy bureau.
The chief secretary will be responsible for population policy and constitutional reform, which will be a thorny issue in the run-up to 2017, the earliest year for the election of the chief executive by universal suffrage.