CE Defends Land Supply Policy Amid CY Criticism

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday responded to criticism of the city’s civil service by her predecessor CY Leung, who accused government workers of dragging their feet on housing problems.

Leung, who served as chief executive in the five years prior to Lam’s appointment in mid-2017, said civil servants lack a “do or die” attitude in resolving the SAR’s housing shortage.

He said departments would circulate papers for weeks but get nothing done, and again brought up the idea of developing on the edges of country parks to ease the city’s housing woes.

There has been speculation that Leung, a vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, could launch a bid to return as the city’s next chief executive.

Speaking before attending the weekly Executive Council meeting, Lam said different governments may adopt different strategies when it comes to the search for land.

She said her government is trying to plan for the long run and find new land, and it was unfair to conclude whether certain land supply measures are effective because some take a long time to come to fruition.

Lam also said anyone is free to criticise the government, but civil servants’ work should be recognised.

“Everyone enjoys free speech in Hong Kong. The freedom to criticise the government is very wide. Myself and my civil service team have the breadth of mind to accept criticism,” she said, before praising the efforts of public servants.

"As everyone can see, Hong Kong is a complicated city, it can operate normally every day because the civil service do their best. I hope everyone will agree on this.”