Politics a barrier to plans to help alleviate Hong Kong’s housing shortage, tycoon Victor Li says

Hong Kong tycoon Victor Li Tzar-kuoi sees political considerations as a major barrier to a government plan for joint public and private development of agricultural land for housing, casting doubt on whether the model could help boost home affordability in the city.

The comments by the head of Cheung Kong Infrastructure, part of the CK Hutchison conglomerate founded by his father and the city’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, are the first expression of reservations by a major property investor on the government’s proposals that it help developers build homes on their land.

“It would of course be fantastic if we could successfully execute public-private co-development projects, but I think this is not easy to pull off in today’s political environment,” Victor Li told reporters on Wednesday after the annual shareholders’ meeting of Cheung Kong Infrastructure.

The government proposals include such measures as having it provide infrastructure to bolster the economics of farmland conversion, and financial incentives. They form part of a broader initiative featuring some 18 options to address the city's projected shortfall of at least 1,200 hectares of land for housing and economic development for the next three decades.

The government-appointed Task Force on Land Supply last month launched a public consultation exercise on the proposals.

The city is already one of the least affordable places worldwide to own a home, but questions of conflicts of interest and collusion between developers and the government have dogged attempts to improve the situation.