Zeng Jicheng: Public-private partnerships are the fastest in housing development
The five-month land supply debate was launched. One of the task force members and former Legislative Council Chairman Zeng Chengcheng’s think tank, earlier published a report supporting the “public-private partnership” in the development of private land. He accepted an exclusive interview with this newspaper that public-private partnerships can release developers’ land in the earliest possible time to prevent the government from falling into long-term lawsuits because of land resumption.
He pointed out that the possibility of building a public-private partnership is the key to whether or not consensus can be formed. Because there are many options for reclamation, public-private partnerships, and other options, there are objections. If the government promises to build public housing as much as possible, it may consider supporting it. He expected that if the Government originally considered that certain options were more desirable, but it was opposed in the general debate, it would have to study what compensation conditions were sufficient to convince the public to accept.
Zeng said that in the past six months, the majority of the community gradually agreed that the supply of land in Hong Kong is indeed insufficient and it is necessary to find ways. This is a healthy development for the consensus on consultation. “In the past, some people did not even agree with this point, saying that Hong Kong has only a lot of land but only development. Business people lived in it; or they believed that it was not there being no land. There were too many people saying that you had brought too many people from the Mainland to take advantage of our public housing.”
Consultation with the public does not presuppose
Regarding the government and even the expert group being accused of being inclined, Zeng Chengcheng explained that the team members naturally had their own positions in terms of where they came from. However, Chairman Huang Yuanhui already stated that the consultation is open and he believes that the entire consultation method and the contents of the brochures are very careful so far. Try to make the public feel that the consultation is not pre-set. It is just a list of the advantages and disadvantages of the 18 land options.
He said bluntly that the public-private partnership has been discussed more than ever before. Some people even think that the group deliberately promotes this model. “We speak out of facts. In fact, brownfields really need to be used. There are many problems that need to be solved. If the developers There is land on the hand and it can be released. This is the quickest to use.”
Zeng Jicheng’s previous article on the “Lands of Land Resumption Ordinance” was that the private land repossessed could only be used for public purposes. He said that the reality is that all the land in the New Territories cannot be used to build public housing. There are also demands for private properties. “If you are in the hands of the developer, you have to take out all the public housing. As the Chief Executive said, you Hearing lawsuits.” He emphasized that the most reasonable approach is public-private partnership. “Give and take, the government has started infrastructure construction to improve the (land) development potential, and drainage (developers) have to cut a part out of public housing.”
Provide compensation plan when needed
He suggested setting up the “Public and Private Partnerships Bureau” to take charge of the inspections and avoid collusion between officials and businessmen. Taking into account the time required for legislation, temporary organizations may be formed during the transitional period, and members of the public and professionals will participate in the examination and approval of development plans for public-private partnerships.
Zeng Jicheng emphasized that the consultation results of the land debate should not be simply seen as a screening of already listed options. “The report comes out at the end not saying that some of the options are ticked, ticked, ticked, and other options are crossed, then the government Only those who do ticks, and all others don’t, I don’t think so.”
He said that if the government has a strong desire for an option to implement it, but there are more social objections, the government can use it as a reference to study what compensation programs can respond to opposition voices. “For example, environmental groups have said that if we want to develop a few rural areas, At the border of the park, what compensation will you have for childcare? There are also some people who are more left-leaning and who oppose collusion between officials and businessmen in the reclamation. Say, unless you are all used to starting public housing, these conditions can be said.” Zeng said that the government is currently There is no strong political energy. With the will of a chief executive or individual officials alone, he can press down on all opposing voices to push for the ideals in mind. Therefore, the key is that the government must have actions to respond to opposing opinions.