To the point,
Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun announced at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that the special administrative region government had accepted the final report presented by the Task Force on Land Supply, which recommends eight options to boost land supply. He also said the Development Bureau will start working on some of the eight options later this year.
This is proof the government is serious about achieving the goals listed in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s last Policy Address, delivered in October 2018. However, the public should keep in mind some of the land supply options being recommended may take years if not longer to produce usable land and, even if they are available, their combined area would still be way short of existing demand. Besides, the government cannot do it without popular support and sincere cooperation by all stakeholders concerned.
Hong Kong’s shortage of land for affordable housing development is probably older than the great majority of its 7.4 million residents and definitely much older than the SAR. It’s fair to say the British Hong Kong administration created this monster back in the day with the high land price policy. And now we must tame if not slay it on our own. Worse still is that no quick fix has been found for it or will ever be, unless society overwhelmingly agrees on solving this long-seated problem for good and fully commits itself to getting it done no matter what.
The SAR government has promised it will not give way to opposition or obstruction by anyone with any excuse, but that does not mean it can seize land by force. That is why public consensus and cooperation by all parties concerned are critical for efforts in getting more land for residential housing development and commercial use to succeed. Since the government cannot do everything in this respect, political parties are obligated to play their part in gathering the public behind the government as best they can instead of setting the government up to fail.
Some people say the city’s insanely high property prices are ultimately to blame for the unhappiness felt by many local residents. They add that Hong Kong has painted itself into a corner by refusing to end its unsustainable obsession with the crazy real estate market as an economic pillar. That may be true but does not mean Hong Kong cannot eventually overcome this challenge. All it needs to tackle this dilemma is for people to put overall social interests above self-interest when it comes to supporting land supply options.