Advertisement
Advertisement
Hong Kong housing
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Land in Hong Kong’s rural New Territories. The fact that the Development Bureau is under the purview of the financial secretary shows how the government sees land for its potential to generate money for the capital works fund. Photo: Handout via Reuters

Letters | Why Hong Kong should return land management to the housing bureau

  • Calls for the chief executive to head a new lands committee take Hong Kong in the right direction, but Carrie Lam should go a step further and rejig bureaus
I refer to “Head new steering committee on land, advisers urge Lam” (January 10). I agree that our chief executive should take the reins, as land is Hong Kong’s prime asset and land management requires strong leadership from the top: passing the buck should not be an option.
The acute housing problems faced by the community can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Development Bureau. This bureau was created in 2007 as part of a governmental reorganisation introduced under then chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, and took over the responsibility of planning and lands administration, as well as public works. This reorganised management structure divorced land from housing, transport and the environment.
The fact that the Development Bureau was put under the purview of the financial secretary shows how the Tsang administration saw land for its potential to generate money for the capital works fund, rather than for the general welfare of the community. A waggish comment is that Tsang misnamed this new agency, as it should have been called the “Developers’ Bureau”, as the property tycoons have been the main beneficiaries.
It is bizarre that departments such as Architectural Services, Buildings, Civil Engineering, Drainage Services, Water Supplies, Electrical & Mechanical Services report to the financial secretary. This could be a factor in why since 2007 major works projects have routinely blown out budgets while suffering excessive delays in completion.
It is an irony that Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was secretary for development in Tsang’s cockeyed organisation structure. I suggest that Mrs Lam take a sensible step to split the Transport and Housing Bureau, and merge Development with the Housing Bureau – reporting to the chief secretary for administration. The chief secretary should work as a general manager to ensure that government works effectively and efficiently, as was the functional case before 1997. There appears too much “silo management” within our government structure.

Frank Lee, Wan Chai

Post