Policy Address
Streamlining Procedures while Moving with the Times
94. The process of developing land for housing construction involves various statutory and administrative procedures, ranging from technical studies, planning permissions, detailed design of works, works gazettal, public objection handling, funding application, land resumption, rehousing and compensation, land formation and provision of infrastructure. There is a need for each of the above procedures. None of them should be abandoned lightly. That said, in order to speed up land and housing supply, the DEVB is spearheading the compression of workflow of land development with relevant departments. I have requested the DEVB to review the existing statutory procedures and administrative arrangements on town planning, environmental impact assessment, land resumption and road works in a more thorough and comprehensive manner. We plan to put forward proposals to the LegCo and other stakeholders to gauge their views in the first half of next year, and seek to introduce legislative amendments within the same year. The Environment Bureau (ENB) will also streamline and enhance the public-private partnership arrangements under the New Nature Conservation Policy to better balance development and conservation.
