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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-02-26 06:50
Last update date: 2021-02-26 06:50
Financial Secretary Chen Maobo announced the "Budget" on Wednesday (24th). The government will invest nearly one billion in country parks, hiking trails, and recreational facilities, including adding sports venues and improving country park facilities.
Hong Kong not only lacks living space, but also makes people feel that the number of recreational and sports facilities is tight even on holidays. How to change Hong Kong's future urban planning has also become one of the issues of concern to many citizens.
This year’s budget earmarks 318 million yuan for the implementation of the "Five-year Plan for Upgrading Football Stadium Facilities" to substantially increase the five-a-side football pitches that meet international standards, and study the expansion of existing pitches into standard eleven-a-side grass football pitches.
The budget expects that in the future, relevant sports associations, local clubs, or even schools and other organizations can hold more standard venues for football training and competitions.
This may help encourage young people to participate in sports regularly, improve the lack of youth sports, and even cultivate elite athletes for the future of Hong Kong football.
The government plans to add or redesign more venues into five-a-side football fields. FA Chairman Bei Junqi pointed out that government policy is mainly aimed at seven-a-side football fields with a smaller footprint.
In recent years, the FIFA has mostly developed eleven and five-a-side footballs, both of which have established international standards. However, nearly half of the current seven-a-side football stadiums cannot meet the standard seven-a-side football specifications.
The plan proposed in the Budget may bring more space for sports to Hong Kong and provide local citizens with sports venues that meet international standards.
The government will set aside 318 million yuan to implement the "Five-Year Plan to Upgrade Football Stadium Facilities."
(Information Picture / Photo by Lu Yiming)
Appropriate to build a stadium to catch up quickly
The Budget’s policy direction on improving open space is desirable, but the government has always set its standard too low as to how many sites are sufficient.
According to the "Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines" issued by the Planning Department, urban planning currently only requires one football field for every 100,000 people and one five- or seven-a-side football field for every 30,000 people.
With a population of nearly 7.5 million in Hong Kong, there are 75 eleven-a-side football pitches and 250 five- or seven-a-side stadiums in Hong Kong. However, according to the government's 2019 document, there are only 61 eleven-a-side football pitches in Hong Kong. The total number of football stadiums in the department is now over 300. It is still inevitable for the public to fight for their heads during holidays, and stadium reservations are often full.
Solving the problem of insufficient local leisure space requires a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, we should start from the financial aspect and allocate funds for building additional venues. For example, we should build an eleven-person stadium as soon as possible, and increase the allocation of land for stadium use in future plans.
But on the other hand, we must start with the review of the planning guidelines and study how to raise the requirements of the standard population ratio.
The government should change its planning thinking. It should not wait until the public facilities are almost exhausted before "emergency". Instead, it should predict the future population growth trend as soon as possible at the time of planning, so as to plan for the future.
According to the "Guidelines", Hong Kong should have 5.5 hospital beds for every 1,000 people.
Based on the same population of about 7.5 million in Hong Kong, Hong Kong needs more than 41,000 hospital beds to meet the standard.
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Review planning guidelines and avoid observing conventions
The construction of public facilities takes years to calculate, but the government's demand-led supply model often takes the public for a few years in vain before the government proposes a policy to change the status quo.
This is especially true for stadiums for public entertainment, and the problems in the construction of other public housing and medical systems appear to be even greater.
Patients wait for public medical services and wait for one to two hundred days. According to the Guidelines, there should be 5.5 hospital beds for every 1,000 people in Hong Kong.
Based on the same population of about 7.5 million in Hong Kong, Hong Kong needs more than 41,000 hospital beds to meet the standard (including all types of hospital beds in public and private hospitals).
However, according to the information compiled by the Department of Health in 2020, the current number of beds under the Hospital Authority and private hospitals is still only 33,586, which is still lower than the standards set in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines.
What's more, social planning is always only a qualifying line, and even this goal is not reached today. How can the government plan ahead for the pressure of future population growth?
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