Formulating long-term infrastructure planning to promote sustainable development (2013/10/9)

President, there is a shortage of usable land resources in Hong Kong. In recent years, the effect of land shortage restraining economic development has begun to surface. Be it the housing needs of the public or business expansion in the business sector, they are all constrained by high land prices and rent increases, so all SMEs are moaning in misery. If Hong Kong is to develop in a sustained manner, long-term infrastructure planning is needed. The original motion proposed the timely provision of adequate land and various supporting infrastructure facilities to boost the economy and promote employment. This think is very much in line with the actual situation in Hong Kong.

Take the Hong Kong International Airport as an example, more than two decades ago, when the Government decided to build the airport, the positioning is very clear. In terms of hardware, not only was the airport intended to be the best one in the region, and also in terms of complementary facilities, plans were proposed in the light of the actual situation then, including allocating and reclaiming land on Chek Lap Kok, improving transport links with the urban area and making reasonable arrangements for commercial and residential land use. Looking in retrospection at the 15 years since the commissioning of the airport, although there is still a lot of room for improvement, generally speaking, the design at that time was quite forward-looking and that explains why in the keen competition between the airport in Hong Kong with the other airports in the region and even throughout the world, the former can still maintain a leading edge. This is attributable to the far-sighted planning.

In recent years, many of the urban development projects of the Government have fallen into the bizarre circle of making plans but having no planning. Although quite a good job is done with regard to the airport in Hong Kong, the planning for Lantau, on which the airport is located, has not been followed up and implemented having regard to the planning in the past. As a result, the potential of such complementary facilities as convention facilities, control points, transport and hotels cannot be fully realized. The number of residents in the district is in an imbalance and there is a mismatch between the working population and jobs, so Yat Tung Estate has even become another community of sadness. Lantau possesses very good tourism resources but the residents there cannot enjoy them. All these are the consequences of a lack of comprehensive and long-term planning.

Meanwhile, the old airport at Kai Tak, which was vacated due to the removal to the new airport, is a valuable piece of land that is hard to come by. Not to mention construction projects that have not yet been implemented, if we carry out an analysis based solely on the newly commissioned Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and the future Kai Tak Development Area to see how they can interact with Kowloon East and tourism in Hong Kong, there is already a great deal of scope for development and the issues worth exploration include:

First, the issue of the positioning of the cruise terminal and the Kai Tak Development Area in Kowloon East. In the Draft Kai Tak Outline Zoning Plan approved by the Executive Council in September 2012, the Kai Tak site was proposed to be developed as the "Heritage, Green, Sports and Tourism Hub of Hong Kong". This prime site would incorporate various uses, such as residential, cultural and sports, tourism and recreational ones. Given the positioning of the Kai Tak New Area, before the commissioning of new sports and tourism facilities, the Government should take the lead to use the cruise terminal now in operation as the vanguard and combine it with the traditional tourism components in Kowloon East to gradually realize the positive value of tourism in that area.

Second, the issue of the positioning of Kowloon East in tourism development in Hong Kong. With the increasing number of Mainland tourists, the capacity of traditional tourism areas is becoming inadequate. The Government should carry out planning for the tourism complementary facilities in Kowloon East anew, so that it can become a new tourism bright spot in Hong Kong and give visitors more choices. In the Chief Executive's Policy Address in 2003, it was proposed that the Kai Tak Fantasy be built on the former runway in Kai Tak and Kowloon East be energized into a commercial and trade zone. When this district is made up of various tourism elements, it can perform the function of diverting visitors without causing nuisance to the residents in the district, so it is necessary to rely on planning to achieve reasonable deployment.

Third, the issue of the positioning of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in the tourism market in the Asia-Pacific Region. The objective of building the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal is to "develop Hong Kong as a leading regional cruise hub in the Asia-Pacific Region". To become the leading tourism homeport in the Asia-Pacific Region, first, it is necessary to have an abundant source of clients. In the first year or two after the commissioning of the terminal, it is estimated that the source of clients for Hong Kong would increase steadily but a few years after that, if we want to maintain a large and stable source of clients, it is necessary to rely on the sources of clients in the Pearl River Delta Region and South China to drive the growth.

Two years later, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link will be commissioned one after the other and a large number of visitors will be brought to Hong Kong through various channels. If the clients outside Hong Kong rely solely on the existing local complementary transport facilities to go to the cruise terminal, the facilities cannot meet the need of developing the sources of clients at all. The Government should plan ahead and prepare for the time when more and more cruise lines would use Hong Kong as the homeport by making preparations for the complementary transport facilities linking various control points with the cruise terminal, so as to enhance the reception capacity of the cruise terminal andthe degree of convenience, thereby forging Hong Kong into a genuine tourism homeport in the Asia-Pacific Region. 

President, first-rate infrastructure development can drive the development of the relevant industries and well-conceived complementary facilities can link up scattered resources to enhance the value of a district. If Hong Kong can make preparations early, it can avoid being replaced by its surrounding areas, thus achieving the ultimate goal of revitalizing the economy and promoting
employment.

President, I so submit.