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Following is the speech by the Acting Chief Executive, Mr John C Tsang, at the "Bringing Innovations to Urban Renewal" International Conference organised by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) this morning (June 10):
Victor (Chairman of the URA, Mr Victor So), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning.
It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here with you all today, for this seminal conference on the notable occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Urban Renewal Authority.
This is a celebratory, as well as salutary, event. Valuable, because of you, our audience, comprising a welcome mix of architects, designers, planners, industry professionals, as well as members of the community of Hong Kong, who are all the key stakeholders and partners that make our work worthwhile.
Valuable, too, because of the prominent professionals speaking today. They are here from all over the world, here to share their experience and to inspire our thinking in urban renewal. We are grateful to have you all here today. And no doubt, Hong Kong will be the better for it tomorrow.
Soon after the URA's establishment in May 2001, I was appointed Secretary for Planning and Lands, with the URA programme as an essential part of my portfolio.
And after an extensive public consultation process, my bureau at the time, published Hong Kong's first Urban Renewal Strategy. And that document became the URA's GPS (Global Positioning System), so to speak.
And I vividly remember witnessing a year later the unveiling of the URA's first redevelopment projects, in Tai Kok Tsui, Sham Shui Po and Wan Chai.
And today, as Financial Secretary, I still keep abreast of the work of URA by reading your annual corporate and business plans, receiving briefings by the Secretary for Development as well as Victor, the Chairman of the URA, and I also visit the many exciting completed projects around town.
And to be sure, the Government has a significant stake in the URA, having injected some US$1.3 billion into it initially, to get it up and running.
The URA also enjoys, as Victor has just mentioned, land-premium waivers for its redevelopment and rehousing sites. As of March, the total amount of land premium waived for the 33 URA projects had reached US$1.9 billion.
As a clear demonstration of our continued support and commitment to urban renewal, the Government has more than doubled its financial support for URA over these 15 years.
I agree with Victor that 15 years is not a long time in the context of urban renewal. Indeed, in many cases, a redevelopment project's full impact on the local community will only be seen, and felt, decades later, after its completion.
Victor mentioned a number of significant milestones that the URA has realised in Hong Kong's urban renewal history.
In my mind, however, the URA's greatest achievement must be the benefit that it brings to people and also their living conditions. The very purpose of urban renewal and redevelopment.
And from the beginning, the URA has advocated a "people-first" philosophy. And we have emphasised, time and again, that urban renewal should not be driven by a "slash and burn" mindset.
While we updated our urban renewal strategy in 2011, we continue to advocate a "people-first, district-based and public participatory approach". The mode of operation is bottom-up and community-centred, engaging stakeholders early on in the process.
This approach has admittedly engendered new challenges. On the one hand, the diverse interests of owners, tenants, business operators and related concern groups need to be addressed, bearing in mind the community's rising demand for preserving local characteristics and even greater public participation.
And on the other hand, there is added urgency in arresting urban decay, given that our buildings are ageing rapidly. At present, there are 6 600 private buildings that are at least 50 years of age in Hong Kong, and this number will increase by some 560 a year over the next decade.
How to gain the support of relevant stakeholders while moving ahead on urban renewal has become a priority for us.
Equally complex is tackling urban renewal in a sustainable manner. How do we achieve a balance between preservation and redevelopment in regenerating a dilapidated area?
Is redevelopment or rehabilitation more effective in upgrading our built environment? Should owners or taxpayers shoulder urban renewal's substantial costs? And what is the role of the market in promoting urban renewal? These rhetorical questions need to be answered.
Hong Kong, like all other cities, of course, is more than buildings and structures rising, fading and falling. It is also the manifestations of its inhabitants and such intangibles as memory, history, emotional experience and cultural identity.
It is important for us to integrate these wide-ranging dimensions seamlessly and innovatively, creating space and value for the betterment of Hong Kong, and for our citizens' pride and ownership in our community.
These and other key issues ,I believe, will be discussed in today's conference, and I look forward to your considered thoughts.
Finally, my thanks to the Urban Renewal Authority, and everyone associated with it, for diligently and faithfully working to realise our goals in urban renewal in Hong Kong.
So thank you very much, and have a good day.
Ends/Friday, June 10, 2016
Issued at HKT 12:37
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MP4 format