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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:

Responding to the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands' statement earlier today (November 13), the Chairman of Housing Authority, Dr Cheng Hon-kwan, welcomed the Government's repositioning of its housing policies and clarification of its role in meeting the housing needs of the public.

"The Secretary has made a comprehensive response to the problems facing us. I think the statement has struck a very good balance amongst all the competing interests for the overall benefit of Hong Kong," Dr Cheng said.

Dr Cheng also welcomed the Government's confirmation of its commitment to the low-income families and its pledge to keep the average waiting time for public rental housing at three years.

As for the nine measures targeted at redressing the current imbalance between supply and demand in the property market, Dr Cheng revealed that some of them have already been discussed by the Housing Authority, although details of the implementation plan would have to be worked out.

"The role of the Housing Authority has always been to assist the Government in the implementation of its public housing programmes. There would not be any exception this time and we would carefully consider the proposals made in the statement and provide the Government with the maximum support in taking them forward," Dr Cheng added.

End/Wednesday, November 13, 2002

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