The Development Bureau yesterday jointly held the Land Supply Forum with five professional institutes, namely the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects, the Hong Kong Institute of Planners and the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, at Central Government Offices. More than 200 professionals and students closely related to the field of land use planning and development attended the forum. I exchanged views with the participants including the younger generation on land supply and demand, and together we deliberated on the direction of Hong Kong’s future development......

Last week, I visited Yangon, Myanmar, with a delegation comprising members mainly from the professional services sector. During the visit we met with locals, foreign investors and Hong Kong businessmen. We could all see the boundless opportunities for economic development there. Since opening up its market for economic development in 2011, Myanmar has achieved remarkable results in foreign investment and economic growth, with the economy increasing by more than 8 per cent in the past two years......

Over the past two years, I have shared with you in my blog on several occasions the vision and progress of the Kai Tak Fantasy (KTF). We have been committed to promoting public participation in taking the project forward, from formulating the initial concepts and organising public engagement activities to launching the International Ideas Competition on Urban Planning and Design. KTF moves on to the next stage as the Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO) is now inviting interested parties to submit expressions of interest (EOI) for the development of the Tourism Node at Kai Tak as the first concrete step to realise the vision of KTF......

“How should Hong Kong’s development plan for the next 30 years be made?” Many Hong Kong people may have given this question some thought. But it is not easy to give a concrete answer to this complicated question. For one thing, people have diverse aspirations; for another, the objective circumstances of our community, and the regional and global environments, are ever changing. The last review on territorial development strategy, entitled “Hong Kong 2030: Planning Vision and Strategy”, was completed and promulgated eight years ago in 2007. Early this year, it was announced in the Policy Address that a study, “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030” (Hong Kong 2030+), would be conducted to review the latest circumstances from various aspects and to update the territorial development strategy of Hong Kong......

After more than a year of work, the Lantau Development Advisory Committee has mostly completed the strategic proposals for the planning, conservation, economic, social, recreational and tourism development of Lantau, and plans to submit a working report by end of this year. Over the past year or so, the public has expressed some concerns about the planning of Lantau and recently, some people have voiced worries as to whether Lantau’s population will grow rapidly as a result of its development. I would like to briefly explain some of our considerations and views from two perspectives......