https://www.scmp.com/rss/502475/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A common assumption among political watchers is that housing has been a key failing of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s administration. But it has emerged that transport has likely been an equally if not more problematic issue out of all the initiatives Lam raised in annual policy addresses during her four years in office. Railway project delays, deadlocks in easing cross-harbour traffic congestion and a stalled electronic road pricing pilot project were among transport-related... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3152801/why-transport-issues-are-bigger-headache-hong-kong-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3152801/why-transport-issues-are-bigger-headache-hong-kong-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Oct 2021 00:00:22 +0000 Hong Kong has found enough land to meet its three-year target of building 15,000 transitional homes, the city’s leader has said, describing the achievement as a “breakthrough” in delivering faster help to low-income groups. Moving people out of poor living environments such as subdivided flats was crucial while they waited for public housing, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Monday. The delay has now stretched to 5.8 years, the longest in more than two decades. “No matter if we... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3140800/space-starved-hong-kong-hit-target-building-15000?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3140800/space-starved-hong-kong-hit-target-building-15000?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jul 2021 09:50:59 +0000 Three factory estates in Hong Kong will be redeveloped to provide more than 4,000 new public flats over the next decade, the Housing Authority has announced. The plan stems from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s call in her 2019 policy address for the authority to explore redeveloping its industrial estates to increase public housing supply. Four of the six estates studied were deemed technically suitable for housing, but the process would only launch for three of them because of a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3134712/three-hong-kong-factory-sites-will-be-redeveloped-4200-flats?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3134712/three-hong-kong-factory-sites-will-be-redeveloped-4200-flats?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 May 2021 02:20:12 +0000 Bernard Chan wrote last week of the Hong Kong government’s plan to expand Zhuhai airport (“Why Hong Kong aviation is going to come back stronger”, December 4). At Logie Group, I advise on infrastructure finance in Asia and I welcome these plans. There has long been a need to coordinate the five airports in the Greater Bay Area. Amid this inertia, Zhuhai has been so underutilised that it has been able to close to the public when it holds its biennial air show. Investing in Zhuhai would involve... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3112882/hong-kong-set-soar-zhuhai-airport-move?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3112882/hong-kong-set-soar-zhuhai-airport-move?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Dec 2020 22:30:08 +0000 This year has been full of surprises. Covid-19 still hangs over the world, devastating economies. Elections have been postponed because of the pandemic, including ours in Hong Kong. The coronavirus is also affecting geopolitics – and Hong Kong is in the midst of the ever-widening US-China conflict. Another major surprise was Chinese President Xi Jinping’s September 22 pledge at the United Nations General Assembly that China would achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Before then, China had never... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3105528/what-chinas-carbon-neutral-pledge-means-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3105528/what-chinas-carbon-neutral-pledge-means-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Oct 2020 00:30:15 +0000 Affordable housing is becoming an Achilles’ heel in cities worldwide, but nowhere more so than Hong Kong. The city’s rising housing prices and living costs are juxtaposed against stagnating wages and stark socioeconomic inequality. More than ever, resolving the housing crisis is a matter of national security. In an article published in the research journal Asian Affairs, former Royal Hong Kong Police officer Martin Purbrick writes that a significant driver of the anti-extradition bill protests... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3104718/hong-kongs-government-must-wrest-back-control-housing-market-or?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3104718/hong-kongs-government-must-wrest-back-control-housing-market-or?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Oct 2020 22:45:07 +0000 Chou Chiu-soon, 73, wakes up at 4am to leave his home in the New Territories to get on a night bus that takes him to Ngau Chi Wan village in Kowloon. By 7am, he opens the Po Fook Cha Chaan Teng, a traditional cafe serving beef and macaroni soup, coffee and tea to workers and residents from the area looking for breakfast. Everyone calls him “Boss Chou”, and this has been his daily routine for more than half a century, since the day he first arrived to help his father, who opened the cafe. All... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3037574/when-kowloon-squatter-village-goes-new-homes-some-anxiety?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3037574/when-kowloon-squatter-village-goes-new-homes-some-anxiety?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Nov 2019 01:00:14 +0000 Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in her policy speech emphasised the importance of “one country, two systems” for Hong Kong, but this arrangement comes with an expiry date of 2047. For Hong Kong youths, the uncertainty over what will happen 28 years on is a very visible concern. The underlying message of the protest movement is loud and clear – Hong Kong’s youth do not want authoritarian China as their overlords post-2047. I think they would totally agree with Lam on the importance of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3035798/hong-kongs-carrie-lam-right-about-two-systems-thats-why-she-must?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3035798/hong-kongs-carrie-lam-right-about-two-systems-thats-why-she-must?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Nov 2019 05:05:11 +0000 The ongoing riots in Hong Kong have sparked off a debate, dividing our community and spreading tension in the city. Citizens are on tenterhooks even strolling down the streets, not knowing if they would get caught up in violent clashes. People from all around the world have also voiced concerns about the protracted civil unrest, as the events threaten universal notions of human rights and democracy. Therefore, everyone had been on the edge of their seats to see what Chief Executive Carrie Lam... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3035169/hong-kongs-carrie-lam-let-down-scarred-city-policy-address-will-she?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3035169/hong-kongs-carrie-lam-let-down-scarred-city-policy-address-will-she?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2019 23:25:07 +0000 When Hong Kong construction worker David Wong (not his real name) fell 1.5 metres from a crane and landed flat on his back on a loading truck in 2017, he could not have imagined two years on, he would still be suffering from the work injury, and worse still, left impoverished by it. Despite bumping his head and back and getting a swollen left hand immediately after the accident, the father of one returned to work a week later, after getting Chinese medicine treatment. Wong, 50, soldiered on for... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3034776/why-industrial-accident-could-mean-life-pain-and-poverty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3034776/why-industrial-accident-could-mean-life-pain-and-poverty?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2019 01:00:14 +0000 Hong Kong must reform its economic policy to restore social calm. While political issues are important and should be addressed, economics is critical to any lasting peace. The essence of Hong Kong’s current economic policy, which is billed as a laissez-faire nirvana, is a regressive tax in the form of high land prices. It strangles the middle class. When economic growth is fast, it obscures the negative impact of the policy. But prolonged slow growth exposes the corrosive effect the policy has... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3034626/restore-peace-hong-kong-big-business-developers-homeowners-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3034626/restore-peace-hong-kong-big-business-developers-homeowners-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Oct 2019 22:00:17 +0000 October 11 was the first time Hong Kong’s governing body had convened since breaking early for summer in July. Less than a week later, on October 16, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor prepared to read out her third policy address, she was disrupted by chants from the pro-democracy group, shouting slogans such as “five demands, not one less”. A day later, she was met with the same disruptive behaviour (“Chaos again in Hong Kong legislature as Carrie Lam is heckled by lawmakers”,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3034473/want-better-future-hong-kong-start-ending-chaos-legislative-council?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3034473/want-better-future-hong-kong-start-ending-chaos-legislative-council?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Oct 2019 07:30:09 +0000 Hong Kong’s housing conundrum is here to stay, despite new measures introduced in the chief executive’s policy address to ease rules on mortgage caps. Soon after the measures were announced, prices and the number of sales of homes surged. Whether this is a positive turnaround remains to be seen. With the market still clouded by the ongoing social unrest, the prospect for homebuyers is anything but clear. The government is under growing pressure to intervene as the protests triggered by the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3034273/easing-mortgage-caps-alone-not-answer-hong-kongs-housing-conundrum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3034273/easing-mortgage-caps-alone-not-answer-hong-kongs-housing-conundrum?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Oct 2019 13:30:15 +0000 Having read the chief executive’s policy address, I can only conclude that the Hong Kong government is now directionless. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is only using the city coffers to redeem her sins. She has been in government for decades as a high-ranking official. What she proposed in the address could have been done years ago. I also fear that the relaxation of mortgage rates may raise property prices when she should be trying to do just the opposite. And that would be ironic, what with the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3033906/carrie-lams-hong-kong-policy-address-one-more-reason-she-must-step?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3033906/carrie-lams-hong-kong-policy-address-one-more-reason-she-must-step?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Oct 2019 22:45:05 +0000 The ombudsman in Hong Kong has called on the government to back up its “green rhetoric” on electric private vehicles with concrete action, including providing more public charging facilities and better management of them. In a report released on Tuesday, the government watchdog said it launched a direct investigation and found a host of problems in the environmental portfolio, including a rising number of complaints about parking spaces designated for electric cars being occupied by other... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3034084/hong-kong-needs-more-action-electric-vehicles-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3034084/hong-kong-needs-more-action-electric-vehicles-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Oct 2019 11:24:07 +0000 Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivered her third annual policy address on October 16, and some critics have already jumped on the bandwagon to throw cold water on the initiatives proposed. Michael Chugani criticised the policy blueprint as being out of touch (“Carrie Lam has missed a chance to shape history”, October 17) while Alex Lo derided Lam as a leader without direction (“Lam like a rabbit caught in the headlights”, October 18). Are they fair comment on a policy blueprint that consists of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3033882/why-hong-kong-media-must-stop-blaming-carrie-lam-it-sends-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3033882/why-hong-kong-media-must-stop-blaming-carrie-lam-it-sends-out?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Oct 2019 00:15:10 +0000 Hong Kong’s government is looking at relocating the city’s 65-hectare River Trade Terminal to make way for a major new town in the northwest of the city, the development minister has said. As one of the land-boosting measures announced in the policy address last Wednesday, a study will be carried out early next year into the development potential of 440 hectares of land along Tuen Mun West to house the proposed residential settlement and a nearby industrial site, subject to funding approval from... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3033886/hong-kong-government-considers-moving-trade-terminal-make?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3033886/hong-kong-government-considers-moving-trade-terminal-make?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Oct 2019 08:53:09 +0000 The BBC breaking news report on Saturday was depressingly familiar: “A state of emergency has been declared … after protests sparked by increased metro tickets turned violent. “Protesters – many of them high school and university students – jumped turnstiles, attacked several underground stations, started fires and blocked traffic, leaving widespread damage across the city and thousands of commuters without transport. “Television pictures showed protesters throwing stones, attacking police... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033720/what-hong-kongs-crisis-and-britains-brexit-woes-have-common?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033720/what-hong-kongs-crisis-and-britains-brexit-woes-have-common?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2019 23:00:09 +0000 Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has sought to exonerate one of her ministers whose family bought properties shortly before the government unveiled housing measures, insisting he was not involved in prior discussions about the policy announcement. The city’s chief executive defended Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip Tak-kuen against suggestions the purchases raised the possibility of a conflict of interest. It was revealed on Saturday that Nip’s family... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033761/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-defends-minister-patrick-nip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033761/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-defends-minister-patrick-nip?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2019 08:37:07 +0000 Hong Kong’s government, grappling with the city’s worst political crisis, must address the causes that drove residents by the tens of thousands – even up to 2 million on June 17 – to march in street protests for four straight months, said one of the world’s most influential conservative political strategists. That approach would give all stakeholders the confidence that issues – such as housing affordability, job prospects and income inequality – can be addressed, said Lynton Crosby, who steered... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3033740/political-strategist-lynton-crosby-says-hong-kong-government?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3033740/political-strategist-lynton-crosby-says-hong-kong-government?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2019 04:00:15 +0000 Philip Bowring Philip Bowring The last law and order crisis in Hong Kong was not during the Cultural Revolution disturbances of 1967. It was a decade later, when the police mutinied, staging mass demonstrations against the Independent Commission Against Corruption for its investigation of institutionalised corruption in the force. The existence of this cancer had been hinted at in an inquiry into the 1966 riots – caused by local grievances, not Beijing – but nothing much happened until the creation of the ICAC. This followed... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033440/lessons-1970s-hong-kong-danger-unchecked-police-powers-and-how?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033440/lessons-1970s-hong-kong-danger-unchecked-police-powers-and-how?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Oct 2019 00:30:13 +0000 Hong Kong’s embattled leader hinted on Saturday that she was open to reshuffling her cabinet, which includes ministers and advisers, but only after the months-long political crisis rocking the city died down. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Saturday also addressed allegations of police brutality in the handling of the unrest, saying the government would not tolerate violent or unlawful acts, including from members in the disciplinary forces. Lam was speaking on phone-in programmes... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033671/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-says-land-plans-unveiled-police?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033671/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-says-land-plans-unveiled-police?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Oct 2019 02:41:43 +0000 To all those in Hong Kong and overseas who are asking whether, or how severely, our summer upheavals will harm business, the answers are simple: there can be no “business as usual” as long as violence persists; the profoundly underwhelming policy address will do nothing to rebuild business confidence; for now, harm is short term rather than structural, and; for the real long-term dangers to our economy, we should look further afield, to the US-China trade conflict and the looming prospect of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033530/hong-kongs-economy-reeling-one-two-blow-local-protests-and-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033530/hong-kongs-economy-reeling-one-two-blow-local-protests-and-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Oct 2019 02:30:06 +0000 Given the escalating chaos on the streets of Hong Kong, it is an understatement to say the rule of law is under stress. Having caused “unforgivable havoc”, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her ill-starred government continue to muddle from one dreadful miscalculation to another. The October 1 celebration of the 70th anniversary of communist rule in China provided a logical watershed for a change in tack. This was the big protest crescendo, after which common sense would surely... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033253/hong-kongs-wayward-young-protesters-need-taking-hand-parents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033253/hong-kongs-wayward-young-protesters-need-taking-hand-parents?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Oct 2019 22:30:10 +0000 Hong Kong’s welfare minister has hailed the “substantial changes” in social security provisions announced in this year’s policy address, claiming the basket of measures will lower the city’s poverty rate by 0.4 per cent, benefiting about 27,400 people. In a cross-departmental press conference on Friday, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong also echoed city leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and said the government was open to introducing rent subsidies and rent control, in a bid to help... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3033629/more-27000-people-hong-kong-will-benefit-enhanced-welfare?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3033629/more-27000-people-hong-kong-will-benefit-enhanced-welfare?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:00:40 +0000 Both the Shanghai Composite Index and the CSI 300, which tracks blue chips listed in Shenzhen and Shanghai, dropped the most in a month on Friday, as China’s third-quarter GDP growth at 6.0 per cent, the lowest on record, fuelled concerns about the state of the economy. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 1.3 per cent, finishing the day at 2,938,14, while the CSI 300 closed 1.4 per cent lower at 3,869.38. In Hong Kong, property developers and financial firms led the Hang Seng Index down 0.5 per... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3033594/china-stocks-lose-most-month-lowest-gdp-growth-record-fuels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3033594/china-stocks-lose-most-month-lowest-gdp-growth-record-fuels?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Oct 2019 09:33:19 +0000 A new session of the Legislative Council has begun and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has delivered her policy address. Last week, Chan Kin-po was reelected as chairman of the Finance Committee after hours of filibustering by the pro-democracy camp. As the pro-establishment camp holds the majority of Legco seats, it is expected to manipulate the council by dominating the positions of chairman and vice-chairman of all committees. Hence it is a convention that, before Legco resumes,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033346/save-hong-kong-pro-democracy-lawmakers-must-paralyse-legco-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033346/save-hong-kong-pro-democracy-lawmakers-must-paralyse-legco-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 22:15:06 +0000 Hong Kong’s leader put up a strong defence of the city’s beleaguered police force on Thursday, questioning “puzzling” demands by anti-government protesters for its disbandment and saying the protesters would still have to seek its help in times of trouble. Reaching out to the public in the second Facebook live session of her leadership, and the first in more than a year, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor expressed hope that the violence would end soon and the city would return to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033458/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-takes-facebook-reach-out-public?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033458/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-takes-facebook-reach-out-public?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 16:42:25 +0000 Rent control regulations that have been put aside for years will be reconsidered together with rent subsidies in an upcoming study to alleviate hardships of the poor, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said. The chief executive floated the idea in a Facebook live session on Thursday night, a day after she announced in her third policy address a one-off living subsidy for low-income people to cope with high rents, while promising a total evaluation of the subsidy policies. The total... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033450/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-says-return-rent-control-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033450/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-says-return-rent-control-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 14:40:08 +0000 There will be no increase in compensation for landlords whose plots are seized for public housing, Hong Kong’s development minister has said despite calls for a review. Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun said at a press conference on Thursday that the administration would be prudent in its spending, as he discussed the land resumption initiative announced by the city’s leader a day earlier. Wong added that the current rate for seizing suitable agricultural land for development, at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3033436/no-increase-compensation-landlords-whose-plots-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3033436/no-increase-compensation-landlords-whose-plots-are?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 13:17:25 +0000 Hong Kong’s benchmark stock index advanced to a one-month high, led by gains among banks and property developers, as investors cheered a policy address by the city’s chief executive, expecting it to put a floor on the ongoing real estate slump. The Hang Seng Index rose 184.21, or by 0.7 per cent to, to 26,848.49, while the China Enterprises Index that tracks the performance of Chinese stocks advanced by 56 points, or by 0.5 per cent, to 10,588.17. A raft of incentives and measures unveiled... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3033411/hang-seng-index-rises-one-month-high-developers-advance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3033411/hang-seng-index-rises-one-month-high-developers-advance?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 10:15:46 +0000 It must be a struggle to find a word for a leader who claims a 97 per cent success rate in her first two years in office when the city is reeling from its worst political crisis ever. Delusional? A better word is leitei. The literal translation is “off the ground” but in Cantonese the word means out of touch with reality. Just how out of touch Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is can best be measured in tear gas, rubber bullets, protests – peaceful and violent – and hundreds of young people who face... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033166/carrie-lam-could-have-addressed-five-demands-speech-ages-instead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033166/carrie-lam-could-have-addressed-five-demands-speech-ages-instead?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2019 01:00:07 +0000 Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s third policy address boasted of more than 220 initiatives which, she said, would hopefully help Hong Kong return to normal. But none of the measures tackled head-on the political storm that has been battering the city over the past four months. By sidestepping difficult political issues, analysts said, her policy blueprint was a missed opportunity to deliver some badly-needed answers on how to break from the current impasse between protesters and the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033270/carrie-lams-policy-address-was-missed-opportunity-offer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033270/carrie-lams-policy-address-was-missed-opportunity-offer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 23:00:10 +0000 Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced a host of measures during her policy address on Wednesday aimed at improving citizens’ living quality and easing their financial burdens, but some people from lower-income groups who had hoped for a lifeline felt the measures would do little to help them. The policy address focused heavily on measures to solve the city’s housing crisis by raising the mortgage cap for first-time buyers, resuming private land and developing brownfield... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033274/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-attempts-solve-housing-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033274/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-attempts-solve-housing-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 15:55:08 +0000 Hong Kong’s beleaguered leader put the focus firmly on housing as a root cause of public grievances on Wednesday as she unveiled a policy blueprint that was not only universally panned but also had to be delivered by way of an unprecedented, pre-recorded video after opposition lawmakers blocked her from presenting it live in the legislature. Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s third policy address was also her briefest, proposing to boost affordable housing, find more land and improve... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033269/embattled-hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-puts-focus-firmly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033269/embattled-hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-puts-focus-firmly?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 15:26:50 +0000 First-time homebuyers in Hong Kong can now set their sights on more expensive flats under a new measure to relax mortgage rules announced in the policy address on Wednesday, sparking concerns people may take on too much risk in a downward market. But the city’s leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, who also announced a new mission for the Urban Renewal Authority to build affordable flats, was quick to dismiss concerns that the move would drive up property prices and put buyers in a difficult... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3033259/first-time-homebuyers-hong-kong-can-aim-pricier?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3033259/first-time-homebuyers-hong-kong-can-aim-pricier?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:54:07 +0000 Delivering her policy address amid the city’s worst political crisis proved to be a challenge for Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. For the first time, the Hong Kong leader switched to a pre-recorded speech after opposition lawmakers repeatedly disrupted the annual ritual. While there were some concrete measures to tackle housing and other livelihood problems, effective solutions to end the raging social turmoil were still badly lacking. The chief executive admitted her blueprint was not an answer to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033240/carrie-lam-fails-come-answers-needed-during-political-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3033240/carrie-lam-fails-come-answers-needed-during-political-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 13:30:09 +0000 Private developers hoarding sites are under threat of having their land acquired by the government through the Lands Resumption Ordinance, as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced measures to boost the city’s supply of land and affordable housing on Wednesday. A government source said at least 10 sites had already been identified and would be taken over at cheaper rates if developers did not formulate development plans by the middle of next year. The bolder-than-expected move in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3033252/least-10-possible-sites-could-be-seized-develop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3033252/least-10-possible-sites-could-be-seized-develop?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:55:48 +0000 Passenger subsidies were increased, tunnel toll charges scrapped and ferries handed more public cash in an attempt by Hong Kong’s leader on Wednesday to woo the millions who rely on the city’s transport network. But critics said Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had missed an opportunity to tackle the spiralling cost of public travel in her flagship speech on government initiatives. Delivering her third policy address against the backdrop of escalating social unrest, Lam also directed support at... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3033245/carrie-lams-policy-address-reveals-raft-transport-measures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3033245/carrie-lams-policy-address-reveals-raft-transport-measures?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:21:03 +0000 Hong Kong protesters, who were nowhere in sight as Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor delivered her policy address on Wednesday amid the worst political unrest since 1997, have accused her of trying to silence the middle class by dangling new measures to entice them into becoming homeowners. The government wanted them to become property slaves, they said, referring to a new initiative Lam announced to relax the ceiling of mortgage financing schemes for first-time homebuyers. For those who are allowed to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033244/protesters-snub-carrie-lams-policy-address-and-denounce-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033244/protesters-snub-carrie-lams-policy-address-and-denounce-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:09:53 +0000 Hong Kong’s leading sports officials have welcomed the government’s plans to inject more money into the local sport community but hope more details could be provided after chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made her policy address on Wednesday. Sport was not mentioned in the main body of Lam’s latest policy address under the motto “Treasure Hong Kong: Our Home” but sport was briefly mentioned as they were two more paragraphs read out under “progress” made and “challenges they will... https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3033242/cash-injection-welcome-details-needed-says-sports-officials-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/hong-kong/article/3033242/cash-injection-welcome-details-needed-says-sports-officials-after?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 12:01:29 +0000 A new round of a one-off living subsidy was the centrepiece of a raft of welfare measures that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor unveiled in her third policy address aimed mainly at helping the city’s poor cope with high property prices. Lam made the key spending commitment for low-income households not living in public rental housing and not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA), in addition to the first round of the subsidy announced by Financial Secretary Paul... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3033236/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-makes-new-round-one-living?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3033236/hong-kong-leader-carrie-lam-makes-new-round-one-living?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 11:39:17 +0000 The Hang Seng Index closed higher, as property firms led gains after investors cheered housing and land policies announced by the Hong Kong’s embattled Chief Executive in her policy address. The benchmark gauge 0.6 per cent at 26,664.28. In China, all leading benchmarks ended lower, as investors’ concerns about an economic slowdown resurfaced. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks blue chips listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, closed down 0.3 per cent at 3,922.69, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3033212/surging-property-developers-take-hang-seng-higher-investors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3033212/surging-property-developers-take-hang-seng-higher-investors?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 09:46:52 +0000 For the first time in Hong Kong’s history, its leader’s policy address was delivered by video after heckling from opposition lawmakers forced Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to abandon her speech in the legislature. In her 51-minute television broadcast on Wednesday, the embattled leader admitted she faced unprecedented challenges, but said she hoped the policy address would set Hong Kong back on track and called on protesters and others to stop attacking each other. Carrie Lam urges Hongkongers to... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033174/policy-address-key-takeaways-carrie-lam-homes-housing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033174/policy-address-key-takeaways-carrie-lam-homes-housing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 07:30:00 +0000 Hong Kong’s embattled leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor tried to unveil her third policy address on Wednesday morning against the backdrop of the city’s worst political crisis since its return to Chinese rule in 1997, but the meeting was cut short amid heckling by opposition lawmakers in the legislature.  Lam earlier said her annual speech - similar to a state of the union address - would focus on land and housing issues, but critics expressed little hope of any measures defusing the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033121/will-carrie-lam-get-fresh-start-she-wants-policy-address?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033121/will-carrie-lam-get-fresh-start-she-wants-policy-address?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Oct 2019 02:44:51 +0000 Hong Kong’s beleaguered leader will focus on a mounting housing and land shortage rather than dwell on politics as she makes her her third policy address on Wednesday, pitching the occasion as a fresh start to restore confidence to a city battered by more than four months of protests. But government sources immediately cautioned against having high expectations that the policy blueprint – akin to a state of the union address – could hold landmark moves, while lawmakers and commentators called on... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033092/carrie-lam-wants-storm-hong-kong-end-soon-and-will-zero?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033092/carrie-lam-wants-storm-hong-kong-end-soon-and-will-zero?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Oct 2019 14:45:07 +0000 The stirring words of Hong Kong’s leader might be considered fit for the crisis facing the city today. “People became more nervous about their future. Investors have shown signs of being more cautious in assessing the territory’s prospects. But this is not the first crisis that Hong Kong has had to confront. “When we have faced difficulties in the past we have emerged with new confidence and strength. “The plans that I have outlined today demonstrate your government’s commitment to the future of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3032857/will-carrie-lam-deliver-business-usual-policy-address?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3032857/will-carrie-lam-deliver-business-usual-policy-address?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Oct 2019 23:00:13 +0000 Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her government have failed to own up to their epic incompetence in creating the biggest political disaster Hong Kong has ever faced, with aftershocks tearing apart the city’s social fabric and shaking our economic foundations. And, as long as they don’t take responsibility, petrol bombs, tear gas and the lynching of people with opposing political views are going to remain everyday occurrences. It’s certainly very distressing to watch Lam in her... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3032499/carrie-lam-needs-face-public-her-policy-address-pre-recorded?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3032499/carrie-lam-needs-face-public-her-policy-address-pre-recorded?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Oct 2019 01:00:09 +0000 The stakes for the chief executive’s policy speech have never been higher. With the social unrest raging for months and her fate hanging in the balance, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor could make or break her leadership with her third annual address on Wednesday.  Lam is not only under tremendous pressure to deliver a well-thought-out strategy to end the chaos, she also needs to restore confidence in her governance and rekindle hope in the city’s future. A midterm policy blueprint would be... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3032752/its-make-or-break-carrie-lam-she-prepares-deliver-her-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3032752/its-make-or-break-carrie-lam-she-prepares-deliver-her-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Oct 2019 16:29:21 +0000