Success of flats strategy hinges on finding enough suitable sites in Hong Kong
Housing minister acknowledges difficulty of building enough homes to meet demand and calls for support of the community
A cloud was cast over the government's new long-term housing strategy even as it was unveiled yesterday, with warnings that meeting the targets depended on finding suitable land and resolving community conflicts.
The plan, unveiled against a background of fierce opposition to new town projects in the northeast New Territories, includes the previously signalled target of building 470,000 flats in the next 10 years.
Drawn up by 15 government advisers and four housing and lands officials after 10 months of discussion, the plan also calls for raising the ratio of public to private flats from 50 to 60 per cent, shortening the time non-elderly single people wait for public flats and regulating the safety of subdivided flats.
"We did not consider if the government has enough land supply to meet the proposed housing target," said Secretary for Transport and Housing Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, who led the long-term housing strategy steering committee. "It will pose a great challenge to the government if it adopts the target. It has to plan for building new land and raising development density while addressing the impact on traffic and community facilities."
The support of the community and the determination of the government would be crucial, an administration source said. "The whole of society seems to have agreed that the city needs more public flats. But when it comes to seeking support from individual districts, they tend to refuse to accommodate them. We need more lobbying."
Success also hinges on the supply of construction workers and the participation of developers, who will be invited to build some of the subsidised homes.