Can reclamation resolve Hong Kong’s housing problem?
Hong Kong think tank says only a quarter of local households can afford a home, with real property price index up 266 per cent since 2004, against a 109 per cent growth in real wages
The new leadership of the Hong Kong government should consider restarting land reclamation to increase land supply to build new homes as a means to resolve the city’s housing problem in the long run, according to a government think tank and a property agent.
Stephen Wong, deputy executive director and head of public policy of a think tank, Our Hong Kong Foundation said Hong Kong’s medium and long term housing supply was lagging behind its target, and urged the government to restart a large-scale development to solve the housing problem.
Wong recommended the authorities to convert the use of land for container terminals in Kwai Chung to build residential properties.
“Do we need container terminals in the middle of the city?” he said.
Do we need container terminals in the middle of the city?
Changing land use of the container terminals is part of the proposal tabled by the think tank in its recently released report to solve Hong Kong’s housing problems. The report proposed that the government restarts large-scale reclamation to create land for different development projects in the city.