Hong Kong – Policy Address | Lam highlights housing, livelihood, Greater Bay opportunities

A video screen shows Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivering her policy speech at the Legislative Council

Chief Executive Carrie Lam delivered her policy address yesterday, highlighting housing, economy, people’s livelihood and young people’s development.

It was Lam’s second policy address since she was sworn in on July 1, 2017.

Titled “Striving Ahead Rekindling Hope,” her policy address comprehensively covers areas including good governance, housing and land, diversified economy, nurturing talent, improving people’s livelihood, liveable city and connecting with young people, a dispatch from Xinhua reads.

The Chief Executive proposed a total ban on electronic cigarettes; actively promote primary healthcare services, and provide further resources for research and development to enhance HKSAR’s research capability for supporting HKSAR’s development into an international I&T center.

In Lam’s policy address, housing and land supply is treated as a stand-alone chapter, demonstrating HKSAR government’s determination to solve the housing problem, Xinhua said.

She said the HKSAR government would introduce three steps to solve the housing problem faced by Hong Kong people.

According to Xinhua, to deal with the urgent issue with where to get land, Lam presented plans on land supply, including Lantau Tomorrow Vision, development of brownfield sites, land sharing and revitalization of industrial buildings.

Being the largest outlying island in Hong Kong, Lantau was home to the Hong Kong International Airport and the gateway to the world. And the commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge improved Lantau to a “Double Gateway” to the world and other cities in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

“Lantau Tomorrow Vision covering 1,700 hectares is to provide 260,000 to 400,000 residential units, with 70 percent being public housing, and accommodating 700,000 to 1,100,000 people, and creating 340,000 jobs for the coming 20 to 30 years,” said Lam as quoted by Xinhua.

Lam noted that in the first half of this year, the HKSAR economy grew strongly by 4 percent in real terms over the previous year, riding on the broadly positive global economic environment.

The government will act proactively, strengthen its roles in serving as “facilitator” and “promoter,” and seize the opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area development, with a view to generating new impetus for HKSAR’s economy, Xinhua stressed from lam’s words. MDT/Agencies

Hong Kong to ban e-cigarettes, other new smoking products

HONG KONG’S leader says the semi-autonomous Chinese territory plans to ban e-cigarettes and other new smoking products to protect public health, AP reported. Carrie Lam said in an annual policy address that her government was drawing up proposed legislation to forbid the import, manufacture, sale, distribution and advertisement of products used in the pastime known as vaping. E-cigarettes typically contain the stimulant nicotine and there is little research on their long-term effects, including whether they help smokers quit. The rise in teenagers using e-cigarettes has alarmed health officials in the United States who worry users will become addicted and be more likely to try cigarettes. Lam’s speech focused on improving quality of life in Hong Kong, where education, health care, youth employment and the high cost of housing are key concerns.