Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s policy address expected to focus on burning issues of the day with land reclamation and education initiatives to feature prominently
Hong Kong’s leader will unveil nearly 250 initiatives addressing burning issues such as housing, land supply, health care, elderly care and welfare in her policy address on Wednesday.
Holding up a copy of her speech while meeting journalists on Tuesday morning before the weekly Executive Council meeting, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said it was about a fifth longer than her maiden address last year.
She will address Hong Kong’s legislature at about 11am, before facing the media at a press conference afterwards.
The cover of her speech booklet is sky blue, like last year’s, matching the colour she used in her campaign for Hong Kong’s top job.
Lam’s administration released a progress report on its achievements on Tuesday afternoon. Officials had so far implemented 78 measures introduced in last year’s policy address, the chief executive said.
The report summed up the headway made in 10 “people-oriented initiatives” announced last year, including provision of more assistance to patients with uncommon diseases, and the building of new public wet markets.
According to the report, studies into site selection for public wet markets in Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung town centre have been completed, and the government will announce the locations at a later date.
Earlier the Post reported that Lam was expected to reveal her land supply plans to resolve the city’s housing crisis when she delivers her address.
The chief executive is expected to set aside 70 per cent of new land, including a 1,000 hectare artificial island to be reclaimed to the east of Lantau, for public rental and subsidised housing.
She is also expected to speed up development of a new town in the northern New Territories, a move which will make 200 hectares of brownfield sites available much earlier for housing and other new projects.
The policy address will also reportedly offer incentives to the maritime industry, including companies offering support services to shipping firms, to encourage them to make Hong Kong their base.
On innovation, the government is expected to announce details of plans to pair local universities with internationally renowned research institutions to develop more advanced research in biomedical technology, artificial intelligence and robotics.
The Post reported two weeks ago that the government had earmarked a Kwun Tong site for an academy to train 180,000 civil servants to improve the delivery of public services, an initiative the chief executive announced in her policy address last year.
Lam will provide an update on preparations for the civil service college when she speaks on Wednesday.
A person familiar with the plan said the Hong Kong Student Aid Society ran a youth dormitory on the site near Kwun Tong MTR station, and the government would have to discuss with the NGO whether to relocate.
The college, which will focus on developing civil servants’ leadership and public communications abilities, will be modelled after similar institutions overseas, such as the Civil Service College of Singapore and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government.
Source : South China Morning Post
