Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong inspected light public housing units in Yuen Long and visited residents as he began a two-day visit to the SAR.

He aims to inspect the Northern Metropolis development as well as the SAR’s alignment with the national 15th Five-Year Plan during his trip on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Xia is understood to have first gone to Hung Shui Kiu in the morning to inspect the proposed site for a university town to be created in the Northern Metropolis.

He then visited the light public housing project on Yau Pok Road in Yuen Long, accompanied by Chief Executive John Lee and Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho.

Speaking to the media after Xia’s visit, Ho said the senior Beijing official visited a family that was among the first residents to move into the Yau Pok Road development.

“Director Xia and the chief executive visited them and had a friendly chat with them,” she said.

“I could see their living conditions have greatly improved. The children now have desks to do homework, and the parents said both their living environment and their rent burden have gotten much better.”

Ho said she briefed Xia on progress made on light public housing projects, pointing out that all units in the Yau Pok Road project have been taken up while other projects are expected to supply 20,000 more units later this year.

“During the briefing, I explained how we were able to build so quickly and provide 30,000 units to help those in need through adopting the modular integrated construction method, with components being manufactured in factories in Greater Bay Area cities such as Zhuhai, Huizhou and Jiangmen,” she said.

“Everyone was interested in finding out about Greater Bay Area's strengths and how these large factories, with their mechanised facilities and application of robotics, could help address Hong Kong’s housing challenge.”



Edited by Tony Sabine