Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor: The current government is striving for land development in 5 areas to strengthen housing supply

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor attended the last question and answer meeting before the adjournment of the Legislative Council today (15th). She said that the legislature has achieved gratifying results in the past three months, including the passage of electoral amendments and more than 10 bills. .

When talking about land and housing issues, Carrie Lam pointed out that it was the top priority. He mentioned that some people complained about wasting time in land debates, or that it was easier to choose from, but she emphasized that land development by the current government is like marching and fighting, and every inch of land must be contested.

She also pointed out that the government's policy clearly favors public housing, and the public-private ratio has been changed from a "6-4 ratio" to a "7-3 ratio."

Lam Cheng pointed out that the next year will strengthen the supply of housing in many aspects, including strengthening supervision, and not allowing "multiple politics"; actively promote the research and planning of Kau Yi Chau artificial island and New Territories North to ensure ample land supply in 10 years; more aggressive adoption The principle of infrastructure first and capacity creation will speed up the development of the new railway strategy; further simplify the development process, improve the development bureau’s project promotion office to assist various departments, and speed up the efficiency of approving private development projects.

The council member Mai Meijuan of the Federation of Trade Unions asked the government to re-introduce the vacancy tax on first-hand buildings to show its "unshakable courage", but Carrie Lam said he would not promise lightly, describing that "courage and recklessness are two sides of the same coin." If she promises too much More, it will cause a lot of reverie.

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[11:34] The DAB Zheng Yongshun said that the Olympics is about to open, and asked whether the government will strengthen support for sports, cultural, and artistic projects, including bidding for more international sports events, such as the International Youth Games, or nurturing more elite athletes.

Lam Cheng stated that for many years he has also believed that Hong Kong has advantages in the creative and cultural industries. He believes that these not only can improve the quality of life of the citizens, but can also be industrialized. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong is mentioned for the first time as a center of Chinese cultural and artistic exchange Law, "A short sentence is a great opportunity for us." It means that the Greater Bay Area is an economically populated area with 86 million people. The art industry has this hinterland and has great potential for development.

She also pointed out that the West Kowloon Cultural District is a cultural investment that enhances Hong Kong's international cultural and artistic level. The next step is to strengthen training so that more people can enter the cultural and artistic industry.

As for sports, Carrie Lam said that the development of sports has been very good in recent years. Hong Kong athletes have obtained the most Olympic tickets in history. He appealed to the public to cheer for participating in the Eastern Olympics in Hong Kong, and emphasized that the government continues to promote sports development with elites, events and popularization. , Kai Tak Sports Park can only be supported by large-scale sports events.

Cheng Yongshun urged the government to consider bidding for the 2029 Asian Youth Games. Carrie Lam said the government would definitely study it.

[11:28] The labor sector Pan Zhaoping said that local grassroots employment is affected by the epidemic, and the government has an important responsibility to improve labor rights.

He mentioned the Ordinance on the Protection of Wages on Insolvency. The ex-gratia payment for wages has not been changed for 25 years and has been maintained at 36,000 yuan, which is calculated based on the 1995 median wage of 9,000 yuan.

Pan Zhaoping believes that the current median wage is already $19,000, and the ex-gratia payment for arrears should be increased to $76,000. He asked whether the government can amend the regulations to increase the ex-gratia payment for arrears.

In response, Lam Cheng said that she understands that as a union leader has a mission to fight for rights and interests. She said that the current government is actually tilting labor. Although there was not much promise to the labor sector during the election campaign, the current government has promoted a lot with the understanding and support of the business community. The policies include increasing paid maternity leave, aligning public leave and labor leave. It is expected that the Labour and Welfare Bureau will complete the amendment to abolish the MPF hedging. She can only respond and review it to see if there are any updates or improvements. local.

Pan Zhaoping asked whether the Labour and Welfare Bureau could put a bill in the Legislative Council under the current government. Carrie Lam said clearly that it was not possible. She said that it is already mid-July and there are still 5 bills to be submitted to the Legislative Council, so it is impossible to do so in reality. I hope that Pan Zhaoping will be considerate.

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Refers to a lot of "hunting for customers" in the past in order to change the negative image of some mainland people towards Hong Kong

[11:27] Liberal Party member Shao Jiahui said that one-third of the retail business comes from overseas, and 80% comes from the mainland. He quoted the mainland government’s policy on Hainan Island, saying that when domestic people go to Hainan Island for consumption, there is an annual tax exemption of 100,000 yuan. The retail business continues to rise, but the domestic consumption in Hong Kong is only 5,000 yuan tax allowance. Therefore, I hope that Lam Cheng will reflect to the central government and increase the tax allowance for domestic residents to Hong Kong to 100,000 yuan per year. After the opening of the industry, the tourism and retail industries will recover even better.

Lam Cheng responded that with Hong Kong’s implementation of the National Security Law and the passage of the “Improvement of the Electoral System (Comprehensive Amendment) Bill 2021,” she has greater confidence and motivation to ask the central government to give Hong Kong greater support, promising We will try our best to strive for the measures we are striving for," but the central government has its own consideration and will propose specific measures to other ministries and commissions.

Carrie Lam also pointed out that Hong Kong had a lot of "catch-up" behaviors in the past, which brought negative feelings to mainland tourists and those who came to Hong Kong for business activities. Therefore, more image projects will be carried out. He also pointed out that the five mainland economic and trade bureaus have also done more on this. The image project reduces the negative image of Hong Kong by mainlanders, hoping to improve the image of Hong Kong, and they will be more willing to go to Hong Kong after customs clearance.

[11:18] Tourism industry councillor Yao Sirong mentioned that the local tourism industry has been hit hard by the epidemic. Although the government has provided several rounds of subsidies, it has "ran out of ammunition and food." He asked whether the government has given up on reviving the tourism industry.

Carrie Lam responded by saying that the current difficulty lies in the fact that there are no quarantine-exempt personnel to return. All parts of the world are facing the same problem, but they will be prepared.

She said that she would actively think about how to stimulate local tourism after orderly customs clearance, and give full play to the tourism cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

In order to help tourism practitioners to maintain their livelihoods, Lam Cheng pointed out that he has made every effort to create job opportunities for relevant citizens, such as positions in vaccine centers, to support the tourism industry through difficult times, and local tours and cruise cruises are also welcomed by the public. I believe the tourism industry is still big Promising.

Yao Sirong pointed out that the measures proposed by Lam Cheng are just "dropping the bucket." He hopes that the government will implement more specific, powerful, and systematic measures to stabilize the confidence of the industry and urge the government to listen to the voice of the tourism industry.

Lam Cheng stated that he is consulting on the policy address and welcomes opinions from Members.

Lin Zheng: How much does the society say about the atmosphere of the Communist Party of China, which will promote large-scale exhibitions

[10:56] According to Pakatan Harapan Liu Yeqiang, the Chinese Communist Party was founded a century ago, but most Hong Kong citizens still have prejudices. He asked whether the Hong Kong government will actively hold publicity seminars for the public to contact the Communist Party and President Xi Jinping's speeches.

Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor responded that the SAR has held celebrations for the centenary of the founding of the party, and Hong Kong government officials also shared the status of the CCP when they attended.

She pointed out that in recent years, Hong Kong has actually changed unknowingly. More talk about the ruling party. It is hard to imagine that it could be like this three to four years ago. The Hong Kong government will make good use of this atmosphere to let young people understand the country and the relationship between Hong Kong and the country Etc., there will be a large-scale exhibition in the future to introduce the development of the Chinese Communist Party and its relationship with Hong Kong.

The DAB Jiang Liyun.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

Researchers do not get vaccinations and need more frequent inspections

[10:55] DAB member Jiang Liyun said that there have been no local cases of infection in the Hong Kong community in the past month, but recently there have been multiple confirmed cases related to imported cases.

She pointed out that although the AA requires employees entering the restricted area to complete vaccinations and provide negative test certificates, there are still many non-AA airport personnel, including immigration and customs personnel, and asked whether Lam Cheng would protect employees From a perspective, consider compulsory vaccination of relevant frontline personnel.

Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor pointed out that after four waves of the epidemic, the current cases are all imported cases, but she said that if it is difficult for outsiders to come to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government will be under a lot of pressure, including the business community and the public.

Regarding the compulsory injection of citizens, Lam Cheng said that no country has used legal coercion at present because there will be disputes.

Lin Zheng emphasized that the government now encourages frontline personnel to be vaccinated. If they do not, they need to be tested frequently. She said that of the 170,000 civil servants, 64,000 are listed as frontline personnel, and 70% of them have been vaccinated.

Lam Cheng pointed out that the number of frontline personnel in civil servants will be expanded later. At the same time, those who adopt regular tests will have to pay for them. He emphasized that this should be an incentive or promotion.

Lam also pointed out that he is considering teachers and residential care homes to adopt the same approach to encourage people in the two industries to actively vaccinate.

She emphasized that rashly forcing a person to get an injection will cause problems, and there is a chance that it will rebound.

Carrie Lam.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

5 ways to strengthen housing supply

[10:50] In her opening speech, Carrie Lam said that under the premise of mutual cooperation and checks and balances between the executive and legislative bodies, the legislative work has achieved gratifying progress, referring to the legislative council being rigorous and responsible, passing the draft to improve the electoral system. The three very compact elections were successfully carried out. The Registration and Electoral Office announced the provisional register of electors for the Election Commission on July 18 as scheduled. It also pointed out that the Legislative Council passed 17 bills in the past three months and is under full speed deliberation13 Each policy bureau will still submit 5 drafts in the next few weeks. If all of them can be passed, together with the 9 drafts passed before April, the current Legislative Council will pass a total of 45 drafts. The Legislative Council will be The busiest and most effective year of legislative work in the past two decades.

Lam Cheng pointed out that land and housing policies are the top priority of the current government. The previous policy addresses put housing policies before the economy and people's livelihood. In the policy addresses 18 years later, housing and land policies are more independent and chapters. He also refers to the first policy address. It clearly stated that the housing policy has four major elements, emphasizing the indispensable role of the government, taking home ownership as the lead to meet the needs of the public, and supporting families on the waiting list for public housing and poor living conditions as soon as possible.

Carrie Lam said that opening up land for development does not take place overnight. Some people complain that the government is wasting time in conducting land debates. Some criticize the government for being near and far away and easy and difficult. The government has never had enough time to work on land, such as marching and fighting. Many of the land work in the past has been promoted amidst disputes, and many have become targets of legislative councils and social radicals. Now the society and parliament have returned to calm, and the process has been relatively smooth.

She pointed out that the government is simultaneously promoting large-scale development projects in Tung Chung and North District, making good use of brownfields, agricultural land, and green land to develop land supply, implementing a pilot land sharing plan, reclaiming private land, and accelerating urban renewal projects such as Tai Hang West Redevelopment. Land work is not just a matter of fact. Last year, Baoshe announced that it would find 330 hectares of land, which will be the long-term goal for the next ten years. In addition to finding and building land, the government is also building public housing at full speed. The current government has built 9 There are more than 10,000 single houses, which is nearly half of the 66,800 public housing units built by the last government in five years, but it is still a long way from the waiting list for public housing. It is expected that the first half of the next ten-year period The Ministry’s supply will still be tight, and the Housing Authority and related departments will step up their work at full speed. She will also personally promote the relevant work.

Lam also pointed out that the current government has implemented a number of groundbreaking measures, including a clear preference for public housing, including the ratio of public to private to 7:3, the implementation of the policy stance that housing is not a simple commodity, and the recognition of Hong Kong as a free and open capitalist society. With the international financial center, the policy is difficult to meet the economic demand for private buildings and the value of regulation. At the same time, the government should let the public know that they can afford to buy buildings, establish terraces for residential properties, and decouple the price of public housing from the private market. Take a 400-square-foot unit in Kai Cheung Court as an example. The flat price is only 2.86 million yuan, which is 480,000 yuan lower than the private housing market, and 40% lower than the market price. Of young families got on the bus. Among them, the 500 first home buyers in Ma Tau Wai Road were over-subscribed by a hundred times.

Hope that the next government will continue the supply determination

Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that citizens cannot live in peace for a long time and the government dare not neglect. Even if the Legislative Council and the government change, housing and land supply will still be the focus of governance. In the coming year, we will redouble our efforts, including strengthening high-level supervision and not allowing politics to go out. R&D and planning of artificial islands and the North New Territories Development Zone to ensure sufficient land supply in ten years; more aggressively adopt the principle of infrastructure first and capacity creation, speed up the development of new strategic roads and railway networks; further simplify the development process and enhance the promotion of the Development Bureau’s projects Offices and departments speed up the effectiveness of approving private development projects; review the methods of urban renewal to deal with the problem of aging buildings.

Lam Cheng emphasized that since the reunification, the housing supply in Hong Kong has been affected by many factors. In the final analysis, there is no continuous land supply. To completely solve the land and housing problem, there is no need to adapt to the current situation, but the determination to act. The courage to not shake policy due to short-term economic fluctuations and the rise and fall of property prices, describe that the current government has achieved this determination and courage, and hope that the future government will maintain this concept.

Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor visits the National Security Office in Hong Kong and the National Security Department of the Police Department said that national security awareness has gradually increased. Senior officials have violated the gathering order | Cheng Lam: It is too harsh for officials not to attend the gathering and will not be prosecuted or followed up

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