Six Suggestions for Promoting the Development of Hong Kong North｜Yu Pinhai

Many people think that Hong Kong needs another MacLehose because he has set an example for the development and construction of Hong Kong. The comprehensive development of new towns is his masterpiece; some people think that Hong Kong needs a Lee Kuan Yew who will enable Singaporeans to Homeowners have never heard of quarrels over housing in Singapore, and no one is worried about the unaffordability of property prices.

These discussions reflect how Hong Kong people are eager to solve their housing difficulties, and most of their complaints against the government are concentrated here.

The establishment party praised this year's policy address, and more people claimed that the government had absorbed their suggestions. It seems that everyone agrees that the government can change its mindset and solve the housing problem drastically.

It is an indisputable fact that the minds of Hong Kong people have changed. Housing is the biggest social consensus among them, regardless of blue or yellow.

This time the policy address has reversed the government’s unwillingness to touch on land rights in the New Territories for many years. Several years ago, it was proposed that the land reclamation in the eastern part of Lantau would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. At least the first step was taken mentally.

The society also generally supports the development strategy of Hong Kong’s "Northern Metropolis". It makes everyone feel that change is finally coming, but many people agree with it while questioning the government’s ability to execute. New facilities.

Some young people even suggested that even if they had to wait for 20 years, they would be lucky as long as they didn't end up badly.

The comprehensive development of the New Territories North has been an initiative of the "Hong Kong 01" for many years. The policy address recognizes the development of the North New Territories as the second pole of Hong Kong at the conceptual level. We applaud it.

The themes of this initiative include: opening up land, strengthening the supply of housing, industry, and public service facilities, building another central area outside Hong Kong Island North and Kowloon, to support the overall development of the entire New Territories North; and thoroughly improving the living environment of Hong Kong people , Including the provision of employment, transportation, medical care, and education, improving the quality of life of Hong Kong people, and truly satisfying Hong Kong people’s yearning for a high-quality life; comprehensively integrating with the Mainland, especially into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and especially integrating with Shenzhen. Hong Kong’s economic development has embarked on a new path of high output value, allowing Hong Kong people’s income to increase significantly.

This year's policy address has reversed the government's unwillingness to touch on land rights in the New Territories for many years, and has taken the first step in reforming governance thinking.

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Reform can't just think about "more thorough"

The North of the New Territories is a once forgotten place. Perhaps the civil officials in Hong Kong were very afraid of dealing with the squires, and felt that they could not touch the land in this area.

The result is that there are many tall buildings in Shenzhen, but there are many wild countryside in the north of the New Territories.

The policy address puts the "Northern Metropolis" development strategy on the table, showing new thinking, but what we see is only the "vision", because the policy environment needed to promote development is still lacking, even in the policy address. I still feel all kinds of worries that get in the way.

In this regard, I roughly make six points.

First of all, the policy address believes that the government has enough land to provide the public with close to 330,000 public housing units within ten years, which is slightly higher than the "number" before the "Northern Metropolis" was proposed.

Such a comprehensive promotion of the development of the "Northern Metropolis" but only a "slightly higher number" in housing supply is unbelievable.

The government is very honest, because in a seemingly exciting policy address, the Chief Executive only pursues "a more thorough solution to the problem of Hong Kong citizens' "living". A "comparative" word removes all pressure and exposes the government. The prospects are not as optimistic as the establishment.

Compared with the CCP’s "one cannot be less" on the issue of poverty alleviation, the determination of the SAR government is insufficient.

Is this a human problem or a system problem?

I think it is a human problem, reflecting the fact that some people are sticking to the rules of thinking and behavior, failing to recognize changes and adapting to changes, and lack political courage.

It is even more sophistry to use the Hong Kong system as an excuse that the efficiency of the system cannot be compared with that of the mainland system.

In the early stage of the anti-amendment riots, the Hong Kong public security department and the governance team were unable to demonstrate their determination to enforce the law at the strategic and tactical levels, and they were unable to guide the society to understand how the demonstrations gradually changed into violent and illegal behaviors. The District National Security Law was promulgated, and officials realized that violent incidents had already reached the national security level.

"Hong Kong 01" believes that the epidemic, violent incidents, and subdivided housing must be "completely" resolved. Only in this way can Hong Kong turn a new page.

If the government sincerely proposes to develop the New Territories North, it should not only adopt a "more thorough" attitude. Instead, it should show sufficient courage to seize this opportunity to completely change the land pattern of the New Territories North and completely reverse the structural shackles of housing supply from an institutional perspective. , A comprehensive solution to Hong Kong’s housing problem, allowing Hong Kong to focus on development instead of continuing to worry about basic housing rights.

Regaining the dominance of the land is what it deserves

Secondly, in addition to the planning and integration of land, the recovery of privately-owned land for wetland conservation, and the comprehensive expansion of the transportation network, the policy address has stopped talking about how the government can increase land for public housing development.

On the one hand, it proposes to amend the ancestral hall law to make it easier for owners of this type of land to handle the transfer of property rights, but it does not propose how the government will obtain these lands so that the settlement of the housing problem can be effectively guaranteed.

Even when it comes to the recycling of brownfields, the policy address only states that "more than half of the brownfields have been included in multiple development projects." However, whether these will be recycled for private development or for the construction of public housing, the report evades the emphasis.

The policy address pointed out that "the government is expected to recover as much as 700 hectares of land in the next few years." But whether they are part of the plan that will not increase housing supply, or are they part of the "Land Sharing Pilot Program" that the government has been emphasizing and rely on private companies. Developers provide the government with land for public housing?

The government must recognize that if it does not change its mindset in terms of land supply, and continues to rely on the "enthusiasm" of real estate developers, it will not help to lift the housing shackles of citizens.

Have the officials not learned any lessons from the experience of applying the list?

Real estate developers will only do business, and letting them lead the land supply for public housing will not change the current supply shortage at all.

The government was originally the only supplier of land increments in Hong Kong. All land available for development, especially agricultural land, was originally the most important land reserve of any large city.

The land dilemma in Hong Kong today is because the government is not aware of its own policies, which has led to the inverted social function.

This result not only caused a shortage of public housing, but also deprived the private housing market of the conditions for an orderly supply. Property prices were too high, and it was not a favorable business environment for real estate developers. It is estimated that they also know the disadvantages of killing chickens and eggs.

How to release and develop the ancestral halls of the New Territories is a concern of the current society.

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Establishment of the Hong Kong North Development Leadership Committee

Third, such a huge development strategy obviously requires the government to provide support at the organizational level to ensure that the plan can be completed. However, the policy address only gave some suggestions on this.

According to traditional political ethics, this government will end at the end of June next year and leave the decision-making to the next. It seems to be a civilized approach, but for citizens eager to solve housing difficulties, one day is too much.

Let me ask, if it is a national security issue, will the central government let you only put forward your opinions and wait for the next government to deal with it?

In fact, the housing dilemma in Hong Kong is something that any government must face. It is not a multiple-choice question, but a must-answer question.

If everyone only focuses on political etiquette, it is a kind of hypocrisy, and it goes against the original intention of officials in politics.

In fact, as long as you look at how others deal with large-scale new city construction, you will know that the problem is not difficult to solve.

In the past few decades, the country has tried many models in order to promote regional development. Most of them have been successful. Shenzhen and Pudong are both cases worth learning. Why can't we boldly imitate them?

In order to promote the development of Pudong, Shanghai set up the Pudong New Area, which is China's first sub-provincial municipal district. Prior to this, the Pudong Development Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government was established.

Hong Kong can also set up the "Hong Kong North Development Leadership Committee", the chief executive concurrently serves as the director, direct leadership, the Financial Secretary and the Secretary of Administration concurrently serve as deputy directors, and the Secretary for Development as the secretary-general, with a dedicated deputy secretary-general, one responsible for system reform and the other for promotion Land resumption and construction.

Only by showing determination from the system, with the chief executive acting shirtless, and the entire government team using this as the core to promote, will the society believe that the plan is not empty talk.

The Hong Kong government's efficiency in urban planning and construction approval is extremely low, which is far from the view that Hong Kong's civil service system is known as the most professional in history. Whether it can efficiently promote the construction of the "Northern Metropolis" will be the touchstone of the nature of the civil service team.

To successfully build the "Northern Metropolis", it is necessary to reform the relevant systems such as urban planning, land change attributes, and land premiums, otherwise the construction will be difficult.

The policy address stated that the Chief Executive requested the Development Bureau to "more thoroughly and comprehensively review the existing urban planning, environmental impact assessment, land resumption and road engineering related statutory procedures and administrative arrangements." This is a good start.

However, how long the process will take and how to proceed and complete are also a test of the efficiency of the government. The expected time in the policy address is obviously not satisfactory. I hope the government can boldly advance the process reform in this area.

Whether it can efficiently promote the construction of the "Northern Metropolis" will be the touchstone of the nature of the Hong Kong civil service team.

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Make good use of bond issuance tools to invest in a better life

Fourth, set up a dedicated "Hong Kong Northern Metropolitan Area Land Fund". The government will allocate 200 billion Hong Kong dollars for the first phase of land acquisition and infrastructure development. At the same time, it is preparing for the issuance of "Northern Metropolitan Area" bonds, no less than 300 billion. The medium and long-term needs of subsidizing land funds.

The fund should actively invite the national sovereign fund to participate in the subscription, and at the same time face the issue of the public, so that the whole society and the country can walk side by side, and jointly promote the meaning of the first comprehensive land reform after the return of Hong Kong, and it is for the medium and long-term development of Hong Kong and Hong Kong. People invest for a better life.

Fifth, review the agricultural policy of Hong Kong, clearly put forward the positioning of agriculture and the New Territories, and re-formulate the policy for the New Territories in this comprehensive reform.

Agriculture is of little importance to Hong Kong’s economy, but from a historical and cultural perspective, a small number of indigenous residents in the New Territories still rely on agriculture as part of their lives.

From an environmental perspective, some young people also have imaginations about ecological agriculture.

The government must comprehensively consider the balanced development of land, housing, ecology, economy, and society to provide space for different needs, but this should be understood from the perspective of seeking truth from facts rather than taking advantage of issues on the premise of resolving major issues of people’s livelihood and economic development.

Take agriculture as an example. If the society has sufficient agricultural business needs, the government should formulate agricultural strategies and policies that are in line with the overall interests of the society, including requiring high-end agriculture as the basis, let alone hoarding land in the name of agriculture.

As the name suggests, farmland is for agricultural purposes. It is not used as a car yard, building material storage yard, or waste disposal site. Once the farmland is moved to other uses, the government should strictly enforce the law instead of just sitting on the sidelines.

Only the Hong Kong government has the statutory power to convert agricultural land to other uses. The government should protect the legal dignity of land attributes, instead of allowing farmers to change land uses indiscriminately for additional benefits.

The government’s long-term concern about land management in the New Territories has caused the situation to deteriorate beyond control. If this time remains the same and cannot re-dominate the supply of agricultural land in Hong Kong through the "Northern Metropolitan Area" development plan, the situation will inevitably intensify. Without housing needs, the plan is very likely to die, and it will completely wipe out the government's credit. This result is unbearable for Hong Kong society.

To become a livable city, the average living area of ​​Hong Kong people must be comparable to Shenzhen and Singapore.

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Increase the living area to achieve real livability

Sixth, the "Northern Metropolis" development plan is defined as the construction of a livable city. Livability should not be a small living environment with a per capita living area less than 25 square meters, nor will it be today's public housing, nor will it refer to it. House.

When the policy address attaches so much importance to green waters and green mountains, adds to the construction of multiple wetland protection parks in the "Northern Metropolis", and even recovers countless privately-owned lands for this purpose, we cannot ignore the livability and the residential environment of citizens.

Recently, many officials from the Liaison Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China went into the homes of Hong Kong people and found that the living environment was so bad. They said that "hearing is better than seeing." Of course, everyone does not find it strange, because this is a fact that everyone knows.

When a home does not have a living room or dining room, children do not even have a desk, let alone young family members who have no privacy, it is definitely not livable.

To become a livable city, we must start with public housing, so that the average living area of ​​Hong Kong people can be compared with Shenzhen and Singapore. This is the first step in livability.

On top of this, the comprehensive improvement of community facilities, whether it is medical care, parent-child, or elderly care, should be planned in a new way, and a radical attitude should be adopted to promote it with time-consuming means.

Only when the environment of homes and communities is improved can it match the improvement of the ecological environment of the "Northern Metropolis" and the goal of a livable city can be achieved.

The "Northern Metropolis" is a turning point for Hong Kong's governance and development. It is the starting point for the paradigm shift of Hong Kong's economic and social model. It is even the beginning of a new century for Hong Kong. We must pay attention to it, we must do well, and we must never give up.

That being the case, we must never talk about things on paper, let alone talk and do nothing.

Now that the Hong Kong government has taken this step, whether government officials realize that reforms cannot be avoided or because of pressure from the central government, they should promote this reform in a comprehensive and sincere manner.

According to the plan of the policy address, Hong Kong's "Northern Metropolis" should be comparable to the US's Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley), hoping to support economic value through the development of innovation and technology, and echo the financial center in the north of Hong Kong Island.

This is a magnificent plan as well as an arduous reform. Hong Kong needs not only such a vision, but also the realization of the vision. It also restores the dignity of the lives of Hong Kong citizens and a bright future for the younger generation of Hong Kong. This is the long-term stability of Hong Kong. Basically, the "Northern Metropolis" should also become a platform for Hong Kong people to once again display the spirit of Lion Rock.