Alexis Wong is a retired listed company senior executive with over 30 years of experience in the financial industry (banking, investment, corporate finance and securities dealing) and five years in the hospitality industry.
The Kau Yi Chau artificial islands plan circumvents land ownership issues that plague the northern New Territories. Not only can environmental and cost concerns be overcome, but the project can also showcase a new home ownership model and attract interest from the wider region.
Subsidised housing prices should be tied to household income, not land premiums, so as to give more families home ownership opportunities. Allowing more people to buy their own homes would ease the government’s burden of providing public rental housing – and boost the economy.
The thousands of cubicles speedily built to isolate Covid-19 patients are due to be decommissioned once the fifth wave is under control. But repurposing them to provide temporary accommodation for those awaiting public housing would have a far greater social benefit, and reduce waste and cost.
Mainland China’s approach rests on population-wide testing and a powerful big data tracing platform. Hong Kong is not measuring up. A system that uploads visitor footprints to government servers, sensors to automatically record entries and exits, and a phased approach to implementation could all help.