Chief Executive John Lee said on Saturday that the city’s first five-year plan would not have a revised version, even if it could not meet performance indicators. However, the Policy Address would have to explain the reasons leading to the shortcomings.

Taking to the airwaves to further explain the two blueprints, Lee said he had taken reference from the nation’s five-year plans in coming up with all 105 indicators in the SAR’s version and that they had also been formulated based on the city’s situation.

He stressed that all indicators, which track progress made in economic, social and governance, had to be achieved and that would happen through implementation of the annual policy blueprint.

“For example, we have set an economic growth target that's in line with the global one. But then suddenly there's a conflict and global supply chains become disrupted,” he said.

“Then the matter would have to be dealt with in that particular year's Policy Address.”

The justification has to be thorough, he stressed.

Lee points out that when an SAR chief executive carries out duty visits to Beijing, he or she will also need to report to the president on unforeseeable events.

At the same time, the SAR’s leader will also need to take remedial action to ensure the public is not severely impacted, he said.

The government is also proposing to enhance the 1823 service hotline, such as by adopting artificial intelligence, to identify recurring issues.

Lee said the move aimed to further boost the current satisfaction rate of 4.6 points out of five.

Complaints involving multiple departments often lead to overlapping responsibilities or to no one being in charge of handling the grievances, he said.

If AI assigns a case to a designated department, Lee pointed out, other departments had to cooperate.

The deputy chief secretary will step in when the parties involved have coordination issues and make the final decision on who shoulders the main responsibilities.

As for the government’s target of resolving substandard subdivided units by 2030, he said work would be carried out in a gradual manner, but not by taking an “extreme and high pressure” approach.

With the registration rate under the Basic Housing Unit regime having reached 65 percent so far, Lee said he believed that indicated a majority of the operators hope to run their business legally.

The government will carry out random inspections at sites that are reported to be illegal as well as at those that are registered, he added.



Edited by Robert Kemp