In his speech to the Legislative Council on October 17, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying identified building more public housing as one of Hong Kong's most urgent issues.
The large-scale northeastern New Territories new towns plan, covering 533 hectares, will provide 53,800 housing units, with possibly fewer than half being public housing.
I would go further by agreeing with the proposal of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors to follow the standard ratio of about 400 persons per hectare, instead of the proposed 284 per hectare ("Call to boost new towns' populations", October 23).
As the ratio of government lands to private lands is about 50:50 under this large-scale plan, it would be worthwhile to set up earlier rather than later a dedicated working group or department to co-ordinate and expedite all aspects of the plan, including the mass transit railway service and full range of municipal amenities and services, such as markets, schools, playgrounds, job creation, community and cultural centres and public toilets.
To increase public housing supply at a faster rate, there have been suggestions the planned Kai Tak sports complex be moved to Lantau, or the space allotted to the complex cut from 20 to 10 hectares.
Both suggestions are unacceptable because, after many years of consultation and planning, the proposed Kai Tak complex, with its 20 hectares of space intact, will stand a better chance of being built by 2020 as a first-rate accessible sports facility that would give joy and pride to Hong Kong people, young and old.