BPA calls for an increase in livable space size

The Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong (BPA) on Wednesday proposed that the government should aim to raise the living space per person by about 10 percent in five years from now so as to improve the public's quality of life.

It was among a raft of suggestions it made for the city's inaugural five-year plan.

While the average living space per person now stands at slightly over 170 square feet, BPA said authorities should increase it to at least 190 square feet.

In this way, Hong Kong would also keep up with the living space of major Asian cities such as Tokyo and Shanghai.

When asked if the plan would affect housing affordability, lawmaker Jimmy Ng said the government could start with the Northern Metropolis that is still developing.

"I believe in the Northern Metropolis, understandably, as it's relatively remote, so the land prices and the property prices will be lower," he said

"So if we can encourage them to go to the Northern Metropolis — this new community to live, work or start a business — I believe it will directly contribute to a significant increase in living space in the future."

His counterpart Aaron Bok said that officials could also raise the plot ratio at the mega hub, where he said the supply of land is relatively sufficient, so as to allow developers to build larger flats without changing the number of units.

Separately, the party also suggested the government set up a comprehensive population policy in its blueprint in a bid to tackle the city's low birth rate.

This is because fertility rate dropped to 0.734 last year — far below the replacement rate of 2.1 to ensure a stable population.

Apart from focusing on locals, legislator Sunny Tan said officials could also include immigrants to the SAR.

“I believe that as we are growing in terms of our industries, especially with the Northern Metropolis area, we do need a lot of technical people, and I would say those should be young technical people, it could be young couples coming in,” he said.

“So I hope to see a lot of very energetic, dynamic families.”

Edited by Tony Sabine ...