Hong Kong’s Housing Bureau will fully capitalize on the city’s unique advantages of connecting with both the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world and play a "super connector" and "super value-adder" role, the secretary for housing said on Friday.
Winnie Ho Wing-yin said this while meeting Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong on the last day of her visit to Beijing.
She introduced the bureau’s work and shared the adoption of advanced construction technologies from the mainland in the special administrative region and its outcomes, according to a government press release.
Ho told the minister that the bureau will organize a series of activities and visits this year, including an international symposium in Hong Kong in November, to showcase the latest developments of construction technologies in the mainland and Hong Kong.
Earlier in the day, she met State Council Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Deputy Director Nong Rong and reported the Housing Bureau’s work.
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To combat tenancy abuse, around 8,700 public rental housing units have been recovered so far, she told Nong.
She also briefed him on the progress on constructing about 30,000 units of Light Public Housing by 2027-28.
The intake of the first LPH project with some 2,100 units on Yau Pok Road in Yuen Long has been completed smoothly, whilst the project on Choi Hing Road in Ngau Tau Kok, with about 2,300 units, will commence intake in phases by the end of this month, she said, adding that the remaining projects are also pressing ahead at full speed.
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The Housing Bureau will introduce the Basic Housing Units Bill into the Legislative Council for the first and second readings in July, and strive to complete the legislative work within this year, said the secretary.
Concluding her visit to the capital, she said it not only provided an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the collaborative development of Hong Kong and the mainland construction industries to experts and scholars from different regions at the Asia-Pacific Network for Housing Research 2025 Conference, but also strengthened exchanges between the two places on smart construction, smart property management, community building and housing policies.
“In addition, echoing the Housing•I&T initiative of the Housing Bureau this year, this trip enabled us to gain a better understanding of the latest developments of advanced technologies on the mainland.”
Ho encouraged the industry to use public housing as a testing ground for trials of new technologies and to research and develop innovative construction technologies and smart management technologies that are locally applicable and globally accepted, to provide a better living environment for the people.
