With just a few days to go before the Chinese New Year holiday, besides spending time with your family and friends, you may also take a walk at the new Central Harbourfront. Apart from huge patches of lawn and the captivating view of Victoria Harbour, there are also the Hong Kong Observation Wheel and the exciting Great European Carnival filling the area with vibrancy and laughter. By the end of January, the Carnival had already received more than 500,000 visits in less than two months, reflecting the public’s fondness for spending time at the Central Harbourfront and the popularity of such short-term projects......

Over the past two years or so we, together with colleagues from other government departments, have been visiting various districts and District Councils (DCs) to solicit support for a series of holistic measures to increase land supply in the short-, medium- and long-term. Some concerns and views at the district level might have taken us a while to handle or respond to, while some cases have achieved “win-win solutions through mutual understanding”. Nonetheless, a small number of individuals or groups in the community disagree with the Government on the measures to increase housing land supply, and try to stall their implementation. Thus, the timely implementation of measures and the timely supply of land and housing are subject to uncertainty. I would like to share some examples with you......

The lights at the former headquarters of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) at Caroline Hill in Causeway Bay were officially turned off early last month, marking the end of the facility's historic mission. Between 1966 and 2005, “Caroline Hill in Causeway Bay” was the synonym of the EMSD headquarters, and its transformation was a testament to the development of Hong Kong......

The Policy Address this year mentions the progress of several planning studies which involve brownfield sites, covering areas in the North District and Yuen Long such as Hung Shui Kiu and Yuen Long South. As the issue has sparked considerable discussion in the community, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about our work in this regard......

The current-term Government fully understands the serious mismatch between the supply and demand of land in our society. The shortage of land supply has led to many problems such as high property prices and rents, a long queue of more than 260,000 applicants on the Public Rental Housing (PRH) Waiting List, people being forced to live in sub-divided units in industrial buildings, and insufficient land for various community and social welfare facilities. Last week, many people queued up in the rain to submit applications under a new round of the Home Ownership Scheme, reflecting the aspiration of members of the public to own their homes. Indeed, I am deeply moved. In his Policy Address, the Chief Executive proposes to increase the supply of subsidised sale flats by engaging public or non-profit-making organisations including the Housing Authority (HA), the Hong Kong Housing Society, the Urban Renewal Authority and the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation Limited, as well as introducing proposals such as conversion of suitable flats among HA’s PRH developments under construction for sale to Green Form applicants in the form of a pilot scheme. These initiatives are proof of the Government’s endeavour to address the demand for housing and underline its resolve to provide more choices and home ownership opportunities for low- and middle-income families. In order to meet the pressing demand for affordable housing we must continue our efforts to substantially increase land supply through short, medium and long-term measures......