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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, at a media session after attending a television programme this morning (September 8):
Reporter: Apart from reasonable quantity... there are also calls for quality as well. How do you...?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: First of all, as far as housing is concerned, both quantity and quality are important. At the moment, we are not saying that we don't maintain a reasonable standard of quality. Quality including environmental standards, infrastructure, transport facilities and other community facilities, but in terms of space, per capita space for example, at the moment, Hong Kong is indeed behind other big cities. So if we aim to improve the quality of housing in Hong Kong, then we must strive to increase gradually the living space of individual. But, at the moment, given the rather acute shortage of housing, I think quantity, number, unavoidably has to come first but we do not want to give up the objective of improving per capita living space. That's why in the consultation document, indeed, we point out this important vision and we say that perhaps to start with in public housing allocation, the living standard requirement or the benchmark could be increased for those not in the urban district areas. This is something that the Housing Authority could explore.
Reporter: How soon do you think this objective could be achieved?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: If this is generally supported by the community during the three-month consultation period and, of course, this is something that the Housing Authority is to take up. Whether or not this could be done very soon, I think that depends on the availability of land for housing. Now as far as priority is concerned, I think, at the moment, number must still come first.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, September 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:35
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