Contractors going at ‘full speed’ to deliver 29,000 light public flats: Hong Kong housing chief
- Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho says projects represent 96 per cent of government’s target to complete 30,000 light public flats by 2026-27 financial year
- ‘I am confident we can complete all 30,000 flats by 2026-27,’ minister adds
Hong Kong’s housing minister has said contractors building 29,000 light public flats are going at “full speed” to complete them, expressing confidence authorities will reach a wider target of 30,000 by the 2026-27 financial year.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said on Saturday that the projects were located in areas such as Yuen Long, Tuen Mun and Kai Tak, and represented 96 per cent of the government’s wider target.
“I am confident we can complete all 30,000 flats by 2026-27,” she told a radio programme. “Three contracts have been operating at full speed, with some of the contractors involved based in Hong Kong or from mainland China.”
Another 800 light housing flats in Ma On Shan were also in the works, she added.
Authorities earlier pledged to build 30,000 temporary homes for residents living in subdivided flats and who had been waiting at least three years to get a public rental flat.
The average waiting time among general applicants for a public rental flat stood at 5.8 years, according to data for the last quarter of 2023.
Ho said on Saturday that another 2,147 public rental flats at Tsing Yi’s Cheung Ching Estate and Tuen Mun’s Yip Wong Estate had been expedited to ensure their completion in the first quarter this year.
