THE Long Term Housing Strategy was unveiled yesterday, with Tung Chee-hwa's pledges reiterated in spite of the SAR property slump and the regional economic crisis.
Secretary for Housing Dominic Wong Shing-wah produced the final version one year after the consultation paper was announced.
Titled 'Homes for Hong Kong People into the 21st Century', it stressed helping families gain adequate and affordable housing in the next 10 years.
The paper emphasised three pledges made by Mr Tung in his October policy speech: to build at least 85,000 flats a year; achieve home ownership rates of 70 per cent by 2007; and cut the average waiting time for public housing to three years by 2005.
Although private developers have slowed their construction pace in the property slump, the Housing Secretary insisted the targets were more than just hot air.
'Our projections of flat production are climbing gradually in the next few years,' Mr Wong said.
'When the Housing Authority can build more than 50,000 flats a year in the public sector, an average of 85,000 flats each year should be no problem.' But provisional legislator and Housing Authority member Frederick Fung Kin-kee said the Housing Secretary had toned down the pledge, saying 'on average' instead of Mr Tung's original 'not less than' 85,000 flats a year.