Paul Yip
The city must provide accommodation for those who are ineligible for public housing and ensure that it retains talented people
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah offered a HK$38.8 billion package of sweeteners in his ninth budget. At the same time, Hong Kong is anticipating slower economic growth of between 1 and 2 per cent and challenges arising from the effects of fewer tourists and exports. This will be further complicated in the near future by rapid ageing and a reduction in the size of the workforce.
Indeed the road ahead will be bumpy with lots of uncertainty. Nevertheless the government is still looking at a near $30 billion surplus in the current fiscal year, not including HK$45 billion injected into a fund for building homes.
As housing is one of the major concerns of our generation, I hope the government can make good use of land and money to build more home ownership-style housing for those who cannot afford to buy private housing and are ineligible for public housing.
Though the rent waiver for public housing has been removed, the resource should be channeled to help poor people living in the rental market by building more public housing for them as well.
A study we conducted showed that the expenditure of those not living in public housing exceeded their income, which meant they are much worse off than those living in public housing with a similar income level. The quality of life of the local population would be greatly improved if the accommodation problem could be resolved.
In facing uncertainty and challenges in the future, investment in human capital and capacity building are a must. It is encouraging to see the support for students taking Vocational Training Council courses. We need to ensure that Hong Kong has a talent pool that can improve high-end activities.
Take tourism as an example. It is important to enhance our carrying capacity and diversify our attractions to cater for tourists from different countries. We also need to improve our service quality. Why don’t we consider setting up a designated college for tourism to improve overall training and make us truly competitive. The college can be developed as a tourism training hub for the city and the region.
Hong Kong can justifiably be proud to have three universities in the world’s top 100. With more support and commitment from government and business, Hong Kong has the potential to develop into a research and education hub in the region.
We train a few hundreds PhDs each year through our universities. However, there are not enough research opportunities and activities for our graduates. We have spent resources but are unable to retain talented people. Instead, such people have managed to find jobs overseas. It is a loss to us and a gain for others.
We hope to see the government make strategic investments to ensure more holistic development. The community is looking for the leadership and specific plan to make Hong Kong a truly global city.
Paul Yip is a professor of social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong
This article was published on SCMP on Thursday, 25 February, 2016. Please click here to find out more.