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Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, at a media session after the first meeting of the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee this afternoon (October 15):
Secretary for Transport and Housing: I will say a few words in English. We have just held the first meeting of the Long Term Housing Strategy Steering Committee. This committee is set up to appraise and review the housing demands, housing needs of the community, with particular reference to some sectors, such as the elderly, the young people, those who are poorly-housed, and also first-time home buyers. In the process, we would like to, first of all, gauge the demand patterns, we would also project the future patterns in terms of demand, and to make forecast on both public and private housing demands. And of course, when we talk about demand, we are mindful of the implications on supply. In the discussion of the steering committee, we would look at both the demand for public and private housing, as well as their implications on supply side. And indeed both supply and demand are two sides of the same coin, in a way. But of course, in terms of assessing demand, we will also look at priority. If we are in a situation with constraints in supply, unavoidably we have to prioritise different types of demands and different types of needs. Similarly, when we look at supply in terms of meeting housing demands, we might be looking at different ways of meeting the demand. So, we might be talking about different types of supply: public housing, in terms of both rental housing and ownership housing and private housing. So, the terms of reference of the Steering Committee, actually have been phrased in a rather broad manner so as to enable maximum discussion within the community. At the end of the day, we have to make forecast of the demands, we have to make our observations on existing practices, policy arrangements, and we will be making recommendations. At this point, we are committed to producing a consultation document by around the middle of next year. And we will be having a three-month public consultation period. But before the production of the consultation document, we will be listening to different sectors and we will be organising focus group discussions. And indeed, we have 15 non-government members who come from different sectors. They will be bringing to the committee, the views and sentiments of the different sectors from which they come. Judging from this afternoon's meeting, we have spent more than three hours, members are very active, and exchanged their views, and expressed their concerns. So I am very hopeful that this committee will be able to accomplish tasks, which is to produce reports for the government's considerations.
Reporter: Do you think what the committee can do will be very limited if it won't look into land supply. Why do you think ten-year is a suitable time frame for long term housing planning?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: First of all, the ten-year time frame, I mean this is just my off the cuff response to the question, at the end of the day what the committee will decide regarding the time frame whether it should be 10 years, five years or 15 years, I think it is subject to the discussion of the committee. But if it is 10 years or whatever number of years, I think the important thing is we should not wait until that time period has expired before we look at the situation again, so I've already shared with the committee members that the government would like to have regular review and regular updating of whatever long term housing strategy we would come up with so that we are able to catch up with the latest developments in both the demand patterns, in the socio-economic conditions of society.
Now on your other question regarding land supply, of course when it comes to discussing demand we are not just a committee of experts looking at demand in a very detached manner. At the end of the day, we would like to find solutions to meet the demand that we have recognised or to meet the priorities that we have set with regard to demands. So, those solutions, those answers to questions, unavoidably have to do with supply, so housing supply in a way is a must in our discussion, but that is not the same as the committee taking over the job of planning land for the whole of Hong Kong because we have already got other mechanisms, we have got the Town Planning Board, we have got a committee chaired by the Financial Secretary to look at housing land supply as a whole. I think there is no dispute in our committee that our committee is not there to be responsible for land. Our committee is there to look at the housing situation, to forecast demand based on some parameters and to come up with suggestions, and those suggestions of course would have implications on supply. In the committee, we also have a member from the land side, so to speak, because the Permanent Secretary (Planning and Lands) is a member of the committee and he will be able to supply information to the committee during discussion on supply side issues.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, October 15, 2012
Issued at HKT 23:03
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