Financial Secretary John Tsang said today as the Steering Committee on Land Supply chairman, he is concerned about the Wang Chau development, which may affect the Government’s long-term housing supply.
Speaking at a press conference on the Wang Chau development, Mr Tsang said the steering committee has been following up on the project since it was tasked to do so back in June 2013.
The request was put forward during a meeting of a taskforce led by the Chief Executive to oversee the Wang Chau and Queen’s Hill developments.
Mr Tsang, also a member of the taskforce, was on duty visit and did not attend the meeting.
All along, the steering committee has been briefed by the departments on the work progress as well as the local community’s views on the Wang Chau project.
But it did not make the decision to develop the Wang Chau public housing in phases, he said.
Mr Tsang stressed he took his responsibility seriously as the steering committee chairman, and the committee members had strived to do their job.
“We have made all the efforts that we can, involving all the departments and bureaus that are responsible for land and different matters, in terms of co-ordinating the government’s effort in identifying the land that could be used for all different purposes, from housing to other purposes that could generate economic gains for the community.
“We also deal with a lot of the planning issues and hopefully we could build up a reserve for future.
“But that is another case, because we are in such great demand for land so we are actually using up everything that we have been able to identify.
“So we do take our responsibility extremely seriously,” he said.
