Political will essential in land issue

Hopefully, Our Hong Kong Foundation's second report on land and housing supply policy, which urges the government to restart large-scale reclamation, will produce much more than just some ripples in society.

Obviously Hong Kong faces a severe housing crisis. Home prices in the city have kept rising over the past several years and rank as the world's most unaffordable for local residents for the seventh consecutive year. This is despite the current administration making housing supply one of its top policy priorities.

The government has also put a great deal of effort into curbing speculative demand for residential properties over the past several years. But home prices have continued their uninterrupted climb, pricing out most of the average local buyers, young people in particular.

Obviously the patchwork of remedies taken so far - including raising plot ratios, converting non-residential land sites into residential ones and curbing speculative demand for properties with penalty taxes - have failed to fundamentally resolve the city's housing crisis.

Hong Kong society fully understands that the fundamental solution to the land shortage and housing crisis lies in implementing some massive land development projects, which can only be achieved by tapping into the city's vast country parks and coastal waters.

Unfortunately, all reclamation proposals, without exception, have attracted strong opposition from conservationist groups. Obsessive conservationists, who are abundant in Hong Kong, have opposed any big development project. Disappointingly, their objection to development in many cases is a knee-jerk reaction stemming from their staunch views rather than informed decisions supported by scientific data or sound reasoning. A case in point is their instant abhorrence of the government's suggestion of commissioning experts to study the feasibility of developing a small proportion of land on the periphery of country parks with relatively low ecological value.

Environmental conservation is a noble cause. But how can these conservationists justify their cause or campaign when they championed the well-being of fish, birds, frogs and even insects (like dragonflies) but conspicuously overlooked the miserable lives of thousands of low-income Hong Kong residents who live in caged rooms or subdivided flats in industrial buildings replete with dangerous chemicals and fire hazards?

Skyrocketing property prices have excluded many first-time homebuyers, particularly young people, from the housing market - depriving them of any hope of homeownership. This has contributed to social discontent and divisions. Hong Kong has enough land resources for economic development and for housing its people. What we need is a strong political will to deal with pressure groups and interest groups effectively. Unless bold action is taken to tackle the land shortage and housing crisis, the city's long-term social stability and economic development will inevitably be disrupted.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong could also set its sights on the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area development project for solutions to the city's land shortage problem. Following imminent completion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the idea of extending the "one-hour living circle" for Hong Kong people to neighboring cities in the Greater Bay Area will be practical.

(HK Edition 04/28/2017 page1)