Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho, at a media session after visiting tenants of subdivided units in Sham Shui Po and Prince Edward with Project Director of the Architectural Services Department Mr Edward Wong, Project Manager of the Architectural Services Department Ms Cherry Fung, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Issues Relating to the Improvement of Living Conditions of the Grass-roots Tenants of the Legislative Council Panel on Housing, Mr Vincent Cheng, this morning (December 22):
 
Reporter: Secretary, some people complained about the high cost of building Light Public Housing, and the location is very remote. Are you confident that it will be able to phase out subdivided flats? Second question, what's the progress of searching for remaining sites in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island?
 
Secretary for Housing: Actually it’s the same question as the Cantonese one. I’ll repeat in English. For the remote sites, I've just explained that I've actually had a meeting with the bus companies yesterday. We talked about how to arrange bus stops and bus stations nearby the Light Public Housing sites. Even within the sites, maybe we can provide some drop-off points, so that people can very conveniently, 10 to 15 minutes, go to major stations or to transport interchanges. From those transport interchanges you can go to the urban areas. The bus companies are also very helpful. Just like Vincent said, it's something of the whole community of Hong Kong. Everyone coming together, contributing to help these people who are living in such a poor condition. I think everyone has to step up and give their understanding to help them. For the cost, I've just explained that although five years is the planning reference for these short-term use of sites, every two to four years we will review. If there is a possibility, the government sites have the possibility to be extended further, subject to and depends on the needs for these Light Public Housing by that time. There are potential for some of the sites to be used for a longer time. For the cost, the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) team is working very hard. When they collect more information during this period, they will look at the cost. But to handle eight projects at the same time and to reduce the construction time within one to two years is very challenging. I hope everyone will give the support to ArchSD to deliver these fast-tracked construction projects which are very much needed by these people. Many people I visited this morning told us that they really don’t want to stay here any longer. Little girl keeps telling her mother she wants to leave and live in better places almost every day. Her mother is under pressure and we have the obligation to help them to improve their living environment.
 
     For the remaining sites, we are working on them. The Architectural Services Department is collecting many technical information, looking at the sites and studying the sites. We will announce the urban sites very soon before we go back to the Legislative Council for the funding approval. Thank you.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, December 22, 2022
Issued at HKT 18:12

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