Hong Kong authorities are considering whether to scale back facilities at some new public estates to speed up construction while encouraging property management firms to partner with welfare groups to boost services, the housing minister has said.
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Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin floated the ideas on Saturday as she expressed confidence that the average waiting time for a temporary or permanent public rental flat could be cut from the current 5.1 years to 4½ years in 2026-27.
Ho said the government hoped to further speed up construction of public housing estates in the future, noting that facilities such as wet markets and centres for the elderly took at least two years to build.
“Can we relatively scale back the facilities offered in public housing? We understand that estates need shopping centres and markets, but what should their size be?” she told a radio show.
“If future public housing estates are built closely in the Northern Metropolis, it may not be necessary for every estate to have a sizeable shopping centre. The overall planning for long-term public housing is under consideration.”
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The Northern Metropolis, a 30,000-hectare area in the northern New Territories, is set to become the main source of public housing over the next decade. The government aims to build 308,000 flats over the next 10 years.