- 14 -
Mr Lee Wing-tat (in Chinese): A very short question. So Mr Governor has let us know how he feels. I would like to give him two of my observations. First, everyone in Hong Kong, especially middle-class has got one motto, we are all of us are actually working for life for real estate developers and this is a very important fact. Mr Governor, you have never mentioned the interests of real estate developers and the relationship between real estate developers and the Governor.
Secondly, I would like to express appreciation towards the steering committee of ACB, headed by Madame Chan. I think over a period of five years they have achieved so much and so this is a great feat among government departments to look at land vetting, to look at environmental protection and other disciplines. Why is it that it takes 14 years for land to be vetted, to be supplied and before a unit is actually produced? As the head of the administration, don't you find this unacceptable?
Now it takes five years to build an airport. Why can't the period for building units be shortened?
Governor: I can't speak for the Chief Secretary but I suspect that she and I would have a good deal of sympathy with the honourable gentleman's question and I think that we do have to speed up our procedures very considerably. The honourable gentleman referred to the position of real estate developers. It is interesting and I'd better be careful with what I say. I don't think that in late February 1997, it's entirely sensible for me to open up yet another front, it is interesting that in a community which is recognised internationally for its ability to deliver spectacularly good value for money in spectacularly short periods, that we don't have that reputation in housing. I've been very careful in the way that I've said that, but for example, you don't see, setting aside the government or government subsidised schemes, you don't see quite as much competition at the lower cheaper end of the market as you see in comparably well-off communities and I think that that's a subject which I know everybody else talks about a great deal, it's perhaps dangerous for the Governor to flirt with it. Perhaps the honourable member would like to come in.
The President: This is the Governor's question time!
Mr Albert Ho Chun-yan (in Chinese): Chairman, in answer to Mr Martin Lee's question the Governor gave a reply which disappointed me. The Governor seems to be saying that for the legality of the provisional legislature to be handed over to the UN would be worthless and there may be difficulties with procedures and so on. But the Governor has close links with the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister, I am sure they would understand the problems. If you cast doubt on the validity of this point, why did the Foreign Secretary mention this very point? Was this just grandstanding or would it achieve any particular purpose?