Transcript of remarks by CE at media session before ExCo meeting (with video)
Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session before the Executive Council meeting this morning (July 3):
Reporter: Mrs Lam, you said you prefer reclamation and will make an announcement on land supply in October in your Policy Address. That's before the land supply task force publishes its report. Are you ready to reconsider your options if its outcomes, its conclusions, are different from your preference? If not, does it mean that public views are irrelevant in your decisions?
Chief Executive: Well, I think in future we'd better arrange simultaneous interpretation for this media standup because I kept on repeating the answers at each standup. I have answered exactly the same question in Cantonese, so I'm going to repeat what I said in Cantonese. But in future, the Director of Information Services may consider a better arrangement so that we don't need to waste time.
My answer is, land supply is always a very important topic in Hong Kong, especially after the announcement of the new housing policy initiatives on the 29th of June. There has been a very strong aspiration for the Government to respond to the question — so where will the land come from? We love your policy, we like the pricing of the subsidised sale flats, but where is the housing to satisfy their demand for home ownership or to reduce the waiting time for public rental housing? As a responsible senior official in Hong Kong administration, we have to be able to respond to that question. And creating land by reclamation and by that I mean reclamation outside of the Victoria Harbour, because I was the same government official who came out to declare that we are not going to reclaim from within the Victoria Harbour after the completion of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass. So, reclamation outside the Victoria Harbour is very obvious one of the important land supply options, and Hong Kong's development has always been relying on reclamation over many decades, so I'm just responding to that question and being very candid.
Coming back to the land supply task force's public consultation, they have already started it for two months now. I think by and large, we have received a lot of views, we have heard a lot of opinions, so I will of course respect the task force to continue its public engagement work. But I have also made it known to the Chairman that they may wish to find a way to reflect the community views to us so that I could be in a position to make a more definite response in the coming Policy Address. I may not be able to provide all the solutions to Hong Kong's long-outstanding land shortage problem, but to make no response at all on land supply in October when I announce my second Policy Address will not be able to meet the people's aspiration.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)