Light Public Housing Will Be Built Quickly: Govt

Deputy financial minister Michael Wong said on Saturday that the government's proposed light public housing would have inferior facilities compared with traditional public flats, but that they would still be useful as they could be built more quickly.

In his Policy Address this week, Chief Executive John Lee proposed building 30,000 such flats in five years to ease the wait for public housing.

Wong said on a Commercial Radio programme that shopping malls and social facilities would be less abundant and smaller in light public housing estates but that this had to be balanced against the benefits of the scheme.

"One of the features of light public housing is it's quick [to be built], but of course, why is it light? Because there are less supportive facilities," he said.

"For example, there will be a little less in the way of social facilities. Will there be no open space? There will be some, but it may be smaller than that for traditional public housing."

The minister stressed that living conditions in the proposed flats would be better than those found in sub-divided flats.

He said light public housing could be completed in as little as two years, compared to around four to five years for traditional housing.

Asked about criticisms alleging that the government was playing with figures in claiming the light housing would help shorten the average public housing waiting time for traditional flats from six years currently to four and a half, Wong dismissed such charges and insisted that the wait would indeed be shorter.

Speaking on the same programme, Housing Secretary Winnie Ho said the government's initial plan is to have non-governmental organisations manage the future light housing estates.

On a separate pilot proposal to let private developers build subsidised housing, she said the idea is for the developers to keep ownership of the flats after construction, meaning the government won't buy the units back.

She said more details about the scheme would be announced in the first quarter of next year.