Tung Chee-hwa's promises to ease housing problems received general appreciation yesterday.
But it remained to be seen whether the pledges could be kept, said Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong chairman Tsang Yok-sing.
The pro-Beijing party leader said he was cautiously optimistic about the objectives set out in the speech.
Mr Tung promised to draw up a 10-year housing plan, providing not less than 85,000 flats each year for overall housing supply, reducing the waiting time for public housing to an average of three years and increasing the overall home ownership rate to 70 per cent. It is now 56 per cent.
'The aims are quite high. If they can be fulfilled, it would be very good for Hong Kong. But they involve questions like how the Government will allocate resources,' Mr Tsang said.
Democratic Party housing spokesman Lee Wing-tat said he was happy to hear the pledge to reduce public housing waiting time.
'But I would need to talk to [housing taskforce chief] Leung Chun-ying about what concrete policies they are planning to attain these brave objectives,' Mr Lee said.