**********************************************************
Following is the speech delivered by the Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Annual Urban Land Institute (ULI) Asia Pacific Summit in Shanghai this morning (June 5):
Lynn, Patrick, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. As founding Chairman of the ULI Asia Pacific, I am honoured to join you all today.
Before I carry on, I should introduce three of my senior colleagues who are with us this morning. First, Edward Yau, Director of the Chief Executive's Office of the Hong Kong Government; Paul Chan, Secretary for Development; and Anthony Cheung, who is Secretary for Transport and Housing.
This is my first visit here since I became Hong Kong's Chief Executive in July last year. Lynn, my term also starts on July 1. It is always exciting to be back here in Shanghai.
So today I am wearing two hats: a Hong Kong Government hat and a professional hat.
I can think of no better city than Shanghai to discuss the theme of this Summit: "Asia's Urban Transformation - Reshaping Cities".
In 1978, at the dawn of China's opening up and reform policies, I began giving seminars in the Mainland of China on land and housing reforms. One thing leading to another, in 1988 I was part of the Shanghai Government team working on the first tender sale of land use rights here in Shanghai. By the way, land use right is a form of leasehold ownership. It was as recent as 1988; it was going to be the first sale. It was the first on the Mainland of China - by Mainland of China we mean the part of the country that is not Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau - after the country's constitution was amended a few months earlier. In those days I worked as a volunteer. Today China is the biggest and the most lucrative market for all land professionals.
The Shanghai tender was highly successful. Shenzhen followed suit. Land and housing reforms which allow private ownership of land and buildings spread to other parts of the country. Land sale proceeds were used to build modern infrastructure which produced more developable land. The virtuous cycle kicked in. As they say, the rest is history.
For the first time in the thousands of years of the history of China, there are now, and this is official, more people living in the urban centres of China than in the countryside - for the first time in our history. The urbanisation rate is around 53 per cent and climbing. Just imagine the kind of social and economic impact that has on the country and on the world as a whole. The World Bank predicts that China's urban population will reach 70 per cent by 2030. Urbanisation and the related industries will be one of the growth engines of the Chinese economy, providing opportunities for developers, suppliers and professionals.
Today, looking at the skyline of Shanghai, or that of any other Mainland Chinese city, it is hard to believe that the real estate market is only 25 years old. Given the size of China, what we have witnessed in the last 25 years must represent the fastest and the most extensive urbanisation in the history of mankind.
Professional services represent one of Hong Kong's major exports to the Mainland. Out of the 11 major professional bodies in Hong Kong, at least five have higher fee revenues in the Mainland than in Hong Kong.
Going forward, Hong Kong will continue to benefit from China's urban transformation. We provide not only locational proximity. Language and culture proximity are also key advantages in accessing the Mainland market. We also share the privileges given to us, to Hong Kong, by the Central Government with firms using Hong Kong as a base.
I believe it is fair to say that in the 1990s, the Mainland Chinese real estate market took off as a result of combining the needs of China and the knowledge that Hong Kong had to offer. From here on, Hong Kong's role as the Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) and Chief Information Officer of China will continue to prevail.
Urbanisation in Asia, which is a huge continent of contrasts and massive population, will provide challenges and opportunities for city planners, engineers, financiers and governments for the foreseeable future. And because Asia's economy is relatively buoyant compared to other regions, we can afford to think big and, most important, think smart, in reshaping our cities.
When we think of fast growing cities, especially those in Asia, we think of vertical living. Skylines here in Shanghai, in Hong Kong and elsewhere offer a bar chart of progress, rising steadily higher as time goes on.
In Hong Kong, we have double-vertical living. There are the usual high-rise buildings, so we have thousands of elevators in buildings. And we also have a mountainous topography, so we also have escalators taking people up our hill slopes. As part of a new mass transit railway construction, and this is in Anthony's portfolio as well, there will be elevators taking passengers from the stations to exits that are a few hundred feet above the railway line, thereby reducing road traffic around the train stations.
To prepare for an aging society, my Government has decided to provide elevators - and it's elevators again - at more than 200 spots, moving people from street levels up to elevated pedestrian walkways.
All these are some of the reshaping efforts in Hong Kong as the social scene, and in this case the demography, changes.
Connectivity is critical for a small city such as Hong Kong. On the one hand we have densely populated areas mostly nestled around the business districts on either side of our working deep-water harbour. On the other hand, roughly three quarters of Hong Kong's 1,100-square-kilometre territory is green countryside, much of it protected green sites.
Our preferred choice of mass transportation is rail. Trains help to relieve congestion on the roads and reduce pollution. And because much of our urban network runs underground, it has a minimal impact on the community in terms of noise and space.
We also have an integrated "Rail-plus-Property" development model which has proven to be very successful. Small urban centres within the city have evolved around railway stations. New towns along railway alignments are often able to satisfy the social, economic and residential needs of the community.
Our railway network currently runs about 218 kilometres long with five new railway projects under way. These will extend the rail network to over 270 kilometres and connect to 70 per cent of our population. In the next seven years, we expect a bumper harvest in our railway development when five more lines will be completed. They will further reshape the concept of travel time and distance in Hong Kong.
Looking ahead, Hong Kong will continue to depend heavily on its cross-border connectivity, and this is between Hong Kong and the Mainland. With this in mind, we are building a new Express Rail which will plug into the 16,000-kilometre-long high-speed rail network across China. The Hong Kong section of this Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link comprises a 26-kilometre underground railway corridor.
Another major project is the 42-kilometre-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which is due to be completed in 2016, only three years away. This will significantly reduce travel time between the three cities - Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai - and open up new markets in the western Pearl River Delta region.
When completed within three years from now, the railway and the bridge will make business and social contacts between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta cities much faster and easier. Before the end of this decade, we shall see a huge and modern conurbation of over 10 cities in southern China of a scale that is not seen previously anywhere else in the world.
I mention these projects because they are part of the big picture of Hong Kong. Most important of all, these projects highlight a spirit of collaboration between the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Central Authorities in Beijing and our counterparts in provinces and municipalities across China. It is a joined-up approach that will bring benefits to all sides: to Hong Kong, to cities across China and to people working and living in this region.
Donning my government cap for a moment, I am keenly aware of the need to take account of changing values and aspirations in the community, especially those of young people. These factors are as powerful in reshaping our cities as brick and mortar.
In Hong Kong there is a growing expectation for people to own their own home. Affordability and availability of property is a challenge that my Government will continue to tackle in the years ahead.
At the same time, people are more focused on the need to protect the natural environment and promote a healthy living environment. For instance, having stopped reclamation in Victoria Harbour we now focus on making the harbour a vibrant and enjoyable natural resource for the community to enjoy. But this means that we have to find suitable new areas for reclamation outside Victoria Harbour, which is a fresh challenge.
We also have a large-scale urban regeneration programme under the Urban Renewal Authority to upgrade and revamp old run-down areas of the city.
Another requirement is to preserve and revitalise our city's built heritage to enhance the character of Hong Kong and its appeal for local residents and our tens of millions of visitors each year.
In each case, we will need to find innovative and creative solutions. We will have to reach a consensus in the community on how to achieve successful urbanisation. And we will all have to make some tough choices to strike a balance for our city's development.
We were grateful to ULI for its strategic advice on land use and real estate development issues to achieve sustainable development. On Kai Tak, for example, the ULI expert advisory panel provided useful recommendations, especially in terms of our vision for it to become a new central business district.
As the CKO of China, we are keen to share our experience with cities across the Mainland of China to support our country's urbanisation. This experience has been gained from more than three decades of cross-boundary co-operation and covers a full range of services. And because the sustainable development of our region depends on interconnected growth across Asia, our door is always open for the flow of ideas on our region's urban transformation.
Ladies and gentlemen, when we opened the Asia-Pacific office of the ULI in 2007, we did so with a vision to promote the exchange of ideas and experience at events such as this Summit.
It is very encouraging to see so many members of ULI come to Shanghai from all corners of the world, to contribute your own ideas and unique experiences to the rapid urbanisation in this part of the world.
We look forward to hearing your thoughts and hope that you can take away fresh ideas so that we can plan together for urbanisation and reshape our cities to enrich, inspire and connect people for many years to come.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:59
NNNN
Windows Media format
Flash format