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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2020-10-14 07:00
Last update date: 2020-10-14 07:00
When the Secretary for Development Wong Wai-lun conducted a public consultation on the "Policy Address" earlier this month, he pointed out that the public-private partnership model could solve the problem of the high cost of the "Lantau Tomorrow" project. His proposal was recently approved by the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Real Estate Developers Association, Leung Chi Kin.
Although the scale of "Lantau Tomorrow" is huge, the government may not be able to develop it alone, but public-private cooperation has its drawbacks. Therefore, only by regaining the leadership in housing construction, the government can truly solve the long-standing housing shortage for the people.
In the 2018 Policy Address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor first proposed the concept of "Lantau Tomorrow" and wanted to use a new infrastructure network to connect artificial islands near Kau Yi Chau and Hei Ling Chau, the northern shore of Lantau Island and Tuen Mun Coastal areas to release land potential and increase land supply.
Later, the Secretary for Development, Wong Wai Lun, in the question and answer session of the Legislative Council, although he also explained the specific goals of the plan, such as the construction of 105,000 to 182,000 public housing units, 200,000 diversified high-end, high value-added jobs Opportunities and so on, but the project financing method has not yet been finalized, causing many people to worry about whether the project cost will empty the warehouse.
To whom is "good Xun"?
In the public consultation video released by Wong Wai Lun at the beginning of the month, he emphasized that "with proper cooperation between the government and the private sector, the government does not need to fund the construction of these projects from public funds", and cited City One in Shatin as an example to support public-private cooperation in the development of Lantau tomorrow. .
The Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Real Estate Developers Association, Liang Zhijian, told the media that it is currently difficult to judge the feasibility of public-private cooperation, but in principle he agrees with the government's proposal, and even asked, "The government says there are cooperative projects. If it is successful, will I refuse it? "
Whether it’s Leung Chi-kin’s "If it’s a good shoot," or his blunt statement that the government provided very good conditions for real estate developers in Shatin City One, it’s already fun.
Why is the housing construction plan that provides people with a peaceful and happy life, ultimately a development project that is "good for real estate developers"?
Is it "good Xun" for real estate, and is it "good Xun" for the public, especially the grassroots?
When the Secretary for Development, Wong Wai-lun, recently responded to concerns about the construction cost of Lantau tomorrow, he cited the model of Shatin City One as an example. He pointed out that the reclamation costs were borne by private organizations and part of the land would be returned to the government for construction. Public housing.
Subsidized housing is the most important
Public-private partnership may share the cost of the project, but it also has the opportunity to make the plan skewed and deviate from the original intention of "Lantau Tomorrow".
First of all, the government's track record of negotiating land development with real estate developers has been criticized.
No matter whether the Tin Shui Wai Development Agreement rejected people's livelihood shops in the early years, or the Cyberport project was not approved by bidding, even if the transaction process did not harm the welfare of the public, its hidden management methods could easily provoke the perception of interest transfer and collusion between government and business, and it is difficult to convince the public .
Secondly, even if the government has prescribed the number of public housing units to be built, it does not mean that the housing shortage problem can be solved.
As the land purchased by developers is bound to build private housing, if the government requests that some units or land be used for public housing, the government has always refused to specify the types of new public housing, so the first choice of developers will be Home ownership schemes or first-time purchases will prevent public rental housing from dragging down private housing prices.
However, now that "public housing" is out of the purchasing power of the public, the prices of second-hand HOS flats have repeatedly hit new highs, and some of them have become speculative tools. Therefore, it may not be possible to solve the suffering of the public in going upstairs.
Although the Hong Kong government has launched a fund to prevent and fight the epidemic after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the fiscal deficit has greatly increased, but raising funds for "Lantau Tomorrow" is not just the old way of public-private cooperation.
As the Liberal Party leader Zhong Guobin and Executive Council member Tang Jiahua suggested earlier, given that Hong Kong’s debt is very small and the international credit rating is at a healthy level, the authorities can also refer to the construction of a third runway at the airport to finance the "Lantau Tomorrow" project.
However, no matter what method of financing is used, the government must understand that urban planning cannot blindly create land. Hong Kong has already developed a serious imbalance. It is urgent to develop a new economic center north of Hong Kong and Kowloon to break the predicament of separation of occupation and residence.
If "Lantau Tomorrow" fails to achieve this, it will even become a shortage of developers, or the public will choose to "speculate property". This will only plunge Hong Kong into an abyss again.
From the perspective of transportation infrastructure, the use of Kau Yi Chau in Lantau tomorrow as the CBD will increase congestion
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