Speeches

Speech by CS at The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Asia Inaugural Women’s Leadership Initiative (English only)

Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam, at The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Asia Inaugural Women’s Leadership Initiative today (March 4):

Mr Raymond Chow (HK Land and ULI North Asia Chairman), Mr John Fitzgerald (Chief Executive, Asia Pacific), Ms Sarah Cooper (Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is my honour and pleasure to join you at the inaugural Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) of The Urban Land Institute Asia.

The WLI promotes the advancement of women and seeks to increase both the number and visibility of women in leadership positions in the real estate and land use industry. Being the only female Principal Official in the current-term SAR Government and as a former Secretary for Development overseeing land and development matters, and with the support rendered by the ULI Advisory Services Panel in undertaking a study on the Kai Tak Development upon my then request as Secretary for Development, I could hardly come up with any excuse to decline Raymond’s invitation to be here today.

I think by now, all of you will agree that land and housing is top on the policy agenda of this term of the SAR Government. Advocating a better place to live and do business can never go wrong as a slogan. And striking a balance between development and conservation, both of the natural and heritage environment, is a goal we all want to achieve. But when it comes to putting words into actions, and making a decision, life is not that easy for policy makers and our civil service colleagues.

When you come to think about Hong Kong as a highly compact and urbanised city, we may get the answer to this paradoxical situation. Our job is to make space for living by over seven million people and to meet the ever-growing and changing needs of the economy with efficient, and sometimes creative use, of the meagre land resources. Our built-up areas cluster in about a quarter of the territory’s land area. A significant part of the rest such as country parks are non-developable. And there are a lot of competing uses. If you ask anyone in the Government working on land use these days, they could readily quote you a few clichés in their everyday work: “It’s nice of the Administration to build more homes for those in need, but not in my backyard”. Or: “it’s good to revitalise ageing districts, but I dislike gentrification or the loss of my familiar corner shops”.

This is when leadership sets in. By leadership, I mean the display of vision, perseverance and some kind of boldness to challenge vested interests and inspire changes.

Quite a number of development initiatives that we press ahead are evident of such leadership. An example that comes immediately to mind is our commitment to Energising Kowloon East. By the way, I coined this term as opposed to the more conventional government vocabulary of East Kowloon Development! The initiative represents a visionary, coordinated and integrated approach to turn Kowloon East (including the former Kai Tak Airport) comprising an area of some 490 hectares into our second Core Business District (CBD) and a Smart City. When realised, the area is capable of supplying an additional commercial/office floor area of about 5 million square metres, which is about double the amount of office space available in our central business district, and will be a vibrant, people-oriented and accessible hub of heritage, green, sports and tourism.

This place-making urban transformation process in Kowloon East is as challenging as building new towns, and I am glad to say we have already come up with a number of quick-win projects. To name just a few, the award-winning Kwun Tong Promenade Stage 1 “brings nature into the city” by turning the seafront loading and unloading area for recycled papers trade into a boardwalk. The “Fly the Flyover Operation” revitalises the unused area underneath the Kwun Tong Bypass into an informal performance venue with diversified community activities. We also have the temporary office building of Energising Kowloon East Office that champions sustainability by using recycled freight containers, with integrated green technologies and features, lean construction methods and low embodied energy materials. This office was completed speedily within half a year just in time for me to open before I stepped down as Secretary for Development. Energising Kowloon East has been given added impetus with the 2016 Policy Address initiative to waive land premium to incentivise private developers to implement pedestrian walkway system to improve walkability in the area. This is a bold move, both fiscally and politically.

Meanwhile, we are taking forward New Development Areas in Kwu Tung North and Fanling North amidst controversies. Also in their advanced stage of planning are the Tung Chung New Town Extension and the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area. We realise that there are different viewpoints and not everyone supports these new developments. But the bottom-line remains this. Hong Kong needs a steady supply of land to meet the needs of our people for housing, business floorspace, better transport as well as all kinds of much needed community amenities. These large-scale projects will, upon completion, transform no less than 900 hectares of land, generate some 170 000 housing units, and create more than 220 000 job opportunities. They will not just improve the livelihood of our people, but also enhance Hong Kong’s capacity to be productive and creative. They are huge and important undertakings and, given the controversies and challenges that have to be overcome, a leader with only the slightest hesitation might have given in along the way.

There is also our vision for the East Lantau Metropolis (ELM). The idea is to construct artificial islands, estimated to be 600 to 800 hectares, in the central waters between Hong Kong Island and Lantau. The ELM is positioned as another premier CBD and a smart, low-carbon new town accommodating a population between 400 000 and 700 000 in the longer term in our development timeline. The whole thing is at an early stage and much is still on the drawing board. But the Government will do its best to lead and foster a community consensus on the eventual shape of this huge and meaningful initiative, and on the processes through which we can get there.

For a small but vibrant city like Hong Kong without much natural endowments, we need to create and manage the existing and future capacity for growth, while upholding our stewardship of the environment. We need a big picture to spearhead the territorial strategy for long-term spatial planning. This we call “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030”.

Soon to be launched for public engagement, the Hong Kong 2030+ is a manifestation of our multi-pronged territorial strategy. It orchestrates the concepts of creating capacity for sustainable growth, promoting liveability, and embracing new challenges and opportunities for the horizon beyond 2030. We want this city development framework to guide and ensure our works are in concord with our community’s needs and pursuit.

I have tried to portray in the last few minutes our vision and drive in the context of land use planning and development. I should hasten to add that nothing on this scale could have happened without the creativity, stamina and intelligence of the men and women involved.

Female practitioners account for 17% of the professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, planning and surveying in Hong Kong. One every ten registered construction workers is female. About one-third of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) members are women. Over half in the professional grades in the Planning Department are ladies.

Allow me to drop a few more names. The incumbent President of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners is Dr Eunice Mak, and the immediate past President of the HKIA is Miss Ada Fung, who is also our current Deputy Director of the Housing Department. We have Bernadette Linn as our Director of Lands, and Mrs Marigold Lau as the former Director of the Architectural Services Department. The Energising Kowloon East Office and the Kai Tak Office are both headed by female colleagues. I would refrain from adding my name, and that of many women leaders in this room, to the already long list.

With so many exciting projects going on here in Hong Kong and a fantastic pool of women leaders in the industry, I am sure the WLI will have a great start in embracing inclusivity in leadership roles for women. May I wish WLI a huge success and all of you a great year ahead.

Thank you.