Hong Kong finance minister throws support behind reclamation and new towns to ease housing shortage
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po says two solutions are key to future development
Hong Kong finance minister Paul Chan Mo-po has called on the public to take “a pragmatic and understanding attitude” towards reclamation and the development of new towns, which he said were key to easing the city’s land shortage.
Chan voiced support for the solutions in his weekly blog post on Sunday ahead of a ceremony he was due to attend on Monday to break ground on the Tung Chung New Town Extension.
The reclamation project, many years in the planning, is expected to yield space for 49,500 new flats.
Chan said there were more than 3.5 million people – about half of Hong Kong’s population – already living in so-called new towns developed outside the city centre from the 1970s to 90s, including Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Tseung Kwan O and Tung Chung.
But he lamented that development had been stunted following events such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the deadly spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003.
