21/6/2017-29

Wu Manhai land supply dilemma to be broken

The number of public housing developments in Hong Kong in recent years is almost equal to 300,000 mark. The average waiting time is five years and the level of return to return. Is the development of public housing in the past two decades? During this period to witness the situation of different positions of the Housing Department Chairman Wu Manhai, noted that many young people tend to stand on their own, small families continue to emerge, so that the rapid increase in demand for housing. To solve the problem, he told the community to put down the dispute, to support the multi-pronged way to build, and as soon as possible to develop the country park border area “step”.

Family growth is much higher than population growth

Talking about the development of public housing in Hong Kong over the past two decades, Wu Manhai has found a funny phenomenon when he visited the special information before his visit. He said that the number of public rental housing estates increased by about 10% after the reunification to seven hundred and eighty thousand at present. However, the number of people living in public housing estates has decreased by 12%, which is a reflection of the increase in the number of households in Hong Kong. Much higher than the overall population growth, is the social demand for housing a sharp increase in one of the reasons.

“In the past, when the family grew up in a couple of generations, and even three generations, the problems faced by public housing were the most crowded, but the children of these families grew up or married, and they chose to stand in their own doors. The demand for one or two units has increased. “He believes that public housing resources are mismatched as the household mix changes in Hong Kong.” Today, public housing is facing the problem of spacious households. “Even if the existing 200 000 public housing flats are added each year, the total number of units is only a small number and it will take some time to reverse the situation.”

Wu Manhai, who served as Deputy Director of the Housing Department before and after the reunification, assisted the first Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee-hwa, in implementing the “Eighth Five-Year” policy set up. In recent years, he has also been appointed as a member of the Standing Committee to form a ” , In different positions involved in the Government two important housing targets. He admits that after the development of housing policy in the past, Mr Tung encountered a change in the external economic environment. But now, when he looked back, he could find that the biggest advantage was that when there were some housing targets, the Steering Committee would assist in the co-operation. The biggest dilemma faced by the current government is that there is no land reserve, and it is difficult to do so.

“Remember that when you joined the HD in the early seventies, there was no money in Hong Kong, and even borrowed from the World Bank, but today the situation was reversed, and even if there was money, there was no land. Mr Wu recalled that Hong Kong had been able to establish land reserves before the reunification because the HA had been demolishing the first generation of resettlement areas and low-rent housing estates. Before the demolition of all the urban huts, indirectly brought to the community at that time the supply of land, “but now the huts have been demolished, even if the redevelopment of public housing, plot ratio” growth “is not much, so today’s land supply Bureau. ”

In view of the fact that today’s society is dealing with different ways of making land, Wu Manhai felt helpless that Hong Kong should learn the lessons of the land for a period of time after the reunification. If the future economic environment is concerned, it will also need to establish a land reserve for five years. And hopefully a single way to solve the problem of land supply in Hong Kong.

Should develop ecological value lower land

He took the Housing Society’s recent study on the development of the country’s border area as an example. It took about one to two years for the study and then carried out the relevant consultation work. The fastest four to five years were ready for housing. He admitted that the area of ​​the country parks in Hong Kong accounted for 40% of the total area, it is not possible to add only unresolved, the use of less ecologically valuable land for housing development, the sooner the relevant research on the more favorable social, “thousands of miles, ; You can not do this step today, ten years later may be OK, why not go early?