Our industry received good tidings from the Development Bureau right before the Christmas of 2024. Under its LDAC Joint Sub-committee on Streamlining Development Control the Bureau issued a paper on a programme of streamlining initiatives that the Bureau planned to implement in 2025. The new year marked its beginning with a stakeholders' forum organized by REDA, BPA and DAB on 7 January, during which the JSC Chairman and under secretary for Development Mr. David Lam explained the theme and vision of this paper to the industry and the professionals.
The paper and the Bureau's efforts received warm support from the industry. And together participants in the forum brainstormed more innovative ideas for further streamlining of the approval mechanism. My colleagues suggested more extensive use of self-certification to tap into the expertise of the professionals while freeing the departments for other equally urgent public needs, while I put forward that the Government should introduce “white zoning” to allow more flexibility in planning and greater responsiveness to changing market conditions.
These efforts must be continued. The Northern Metropolis is set to go and a streamlined and efficient development approval system will help many fledging planning ideas take flight and materialize. And a shorter development cycle will reduce risks to developers, reduce costs to development projects, and in turn ensure stable supply to the market. There are many aspects that still need to be worked on. The various Joint Practice Notes issued so far under the auspices of JSC have done many goods in improving efficiency, yet their benefits are often confined to new grant sites. Old leases are left out due to the absence of relevant terms in the lease and departmental attitude that still clings to the rigid mindset of lease modification, losing sight of the greater goods of optimizing land development potential. The underground carpark requirement has long outlived its justification of sustainability, because of the waste created by excessive excavation, ongoing increase of carbon emission from lighting and ventilation, risk to public safety due to drastic weather and rainfall. The requirement must go away or at least be finetuned in order to allow our city to move forward to more sustainable developments. This year I will spare no efforts in championing a complete overhaul of these two policies with my colleagues in the industry.
Post 1 Post 2