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10 Things You Can Do To Improve Hong Kong

Get off your duff and do something

Reading Time:9 minutes
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10 Things You Can Do To Improve Hong Kong

Make a Development Proposal

Why is it that whenever you hear about a ridiculous new development project, it’s too late to actually do anything? Well, rather than chaining yourself to a rail in protest, your best bet at stopping unwanted development is to get in early and submit your comments before they’re given the go-ahead by the Town Planning Board. The first step is finding out what rezoning applications and requests for planning permission have been submitted. These can be found in three places:

1. On the Town Planning Board’s website: www.info.gov.hk/tpb. You can even subscribe to the mailing list at the Statute Planning Portal and be directly notified as soon as plans are made public. Sign up at www.ozp.tpb.gov.hk.
2. In local newspapers: the Planning department publishes calls for comments on plans in two daily Chinese papers, Ming Pao and the Economic Times, and one daily English paper, The Standard.
3. At your local District Council.

Once a proposal has been published, the public has two months to inspect it. The Planning Department says, ”Every comment from the public that we receive will be responded to and included in a report that we submit to the Town Planning Board. Members of the public who submit comments will be notified when the meeting about the proposal will be held.”

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But how can you ensure that your comment will be taken seriously? Paul Zimmerman of Designing Hong Kong says that it’s important to make sure that you use the words “support” or “object” when you submit your comments. “If you don’t specifically state that you’re objecting, the planning department may just regard your comment simply as information. By making sure you use the right wording, they will have to directly address the issues you’ve brought up,” he says.

Zimmerman also suggests setting up your own community organization and writing to different government departments, including Legco, your District Council, as well as any relevant government departments that you can think of. “When your name starts to get recognized, the government will start to send you information and seek your feedback.” Sound like too much work? He also suggests joining other local groups such as the Central and Western Concern Group or the Conservancy Association. “If you want to keep up to date with Hong Kong’s design and infrastructure, sign up for the Designing Hong Kong newsletter at www.designinghongkong.com.”

Join the Party

Legco filibustering getting you hot under the collar? Rather than just waving your walking stick at the television, why not get your point across by joining a think tank or a political party? Affiliating yourself with a think tank gives you a platform to voice your opinions with more conviction, and it can also serve as a way to kick-start your fledgling political career. Zandra Mok of The 30s Group (www.30sgroup.org) and Paul Chan of Roundtable (www.roundtablecommunity.org.hk) were recently introduced as government political appointees, all thanks to their work in their think tanks.
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