Opinion | Once again, political reform is left out of Carrie Lam’s policy address

Just once I want to hear a policy address that doesn’t put me to sleep or drive me to drink. Last week’s was a double whammy: within minutes I was drinking in my sleep.

To be fair, it was not a complete disaster. There were some parts I quite liked. But there were also missed opportunities and some important areas were completely omitted. The good news is that the section on land for housing seemed quite strong. I counted more than a dozen sites and categories of land with indicative timings and identified development agencies. We now have a firm checklist against which to measure government performance over the next decade; by which time, there should be significant inroads into the residential accommodation shortfall.

Still, far too many Hong Kong flats are disgracefully small (why no legislation on minimum size?) and in very old buildings in urgent need of redevelopment, so we need land for decanting. I was therefore glad that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is sticking to her guns on the need to study the Lantau Tomorrow Vision.

Also encouraging were the measures to improve Hong Kong’s attractiveness for financial services. Reading some other sections of the speech, with its – perhaps excessive – emphasis on our role in boosting Greater Bay Area development, one gets the impression that some have started to see Hong Kong as little more than a major town on the fringes of an important technology city called Shenzhen. We are in fact one of the world’s most important financial centres, on a par with London and New York. It does no harm to remind some people of that.

Finally, there were proposals to redevelop Hong Kong Island’s Southern district to make the most of its natural beauty and heritage, including the rebirth of Ocean Park and preservation of Jumbo Floating Restaurant. To this former tourism commissioner, it sounds like an attractive and creative package. Well done.

What were the opportunities missed? Two jump right off the page. Soon, Hong Kong will be the only major city in the world in which Uber or similar services are illegal. Lam’s address also promises to stiffen penalties “to protect the interests of passengers”. Yet the truth is that Uber’s many clients in our city very much like its superior service and see existing restrictions as serving only the interests of the powerful taxi licence-owning lobby.