'Govt Should Pledge New Land For Public Housing'

A concern group on Thursday called on the Chief Executive to promise that new land identified for development, or at least most of it, will only be used for subsidised housing.

Land Watch said such a pledge will allay people's concerns that any new plots found will fail to properly address the city's housing shortage.

Carrie Lam's administration has appointed a task force to look at ways to increase land supply and the panel is holding a public consultation on 18 proposals it has come up with, some of them controversial.

Land Watch chairman Lee Wing-tat said NGOs, green groups and others are worried that any new land released will go to private development and be used for luxury flats that are not affordable for average people.

He said the government should make a pledge in front of Legco that this will not be the case.

"So one way the Chief Executive can alleviate the worries of the people is that she can make a policy statement in Legco that any new land, [or at least] the majority or maybe 70 percent of it will go to the public sector," Lee told RTHK's Maggie Ho.

The group has submitted suggestions to the government's Land Supply Task Force.

Lee also said his group does not oppose ideas like public-private partnerships or building flats on the fringes of country parks, as long as the government makes sure that these arrangements benefit the general public instead of vested interests.