Hong Kong authorities show Portugal how to speed-up public housing construction
Portugal’s AD government has admitted to struggling to achieve its plans to build much-need public housing, and needing a way round the traditional obstacles. Enter stage right, the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese region of Hong Kong, which has announced today that it aims to promote the use of technology in public housing construction in Portugal, on Thursday.
According to a statement, Hong Kong authorities are organising a business lunch in Lisbon, entitled “Unveiling New Horizons: Affordable Housing and Opportunities in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area”.
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area is a Beijing project to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into a region with more than 86 million inhabitants and an economy worth more than €1 trillion, writes Lusa
Project Commissioner Maisie Chan Kit Ling will be giving a speech on “the enormous business opportunities” waiting for Portuguese entrepreneurs.
The event seeks to “share Hong Kong’s experiences in increasing the quantity, speed, efficiency and quality of public housing construction through the adoption of various innovative rapid construction and robotic technologies”.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Housing, Winnie Ho Wing Yin, is attending with more than 20 representatives from the construction sector in both Hong Kong and Chinal
These companies will discuss technologies such as prefabricated modules, the integration of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing installations, and the use of robots in civil construction.
The event could serve “to strengthen links between the sectors in Hong Kong and Portugal and explore business opportunities,” says the statement.
Maisie Chan and Winnie Ho will also participate in the 17th International Forum on Urbanism, which takes place this week at the renovated Portugal Pavilion, now managed by the University of Lisbon.
As Lusa points out, the political programme of the Luís Montenegro’s government provides for the construction of 59,000 public houses by 2030 – as well as funding for more housing, including public-private partnerships on vacant state-owned properties.
Earlier this month, the prime minister acknowledged that the previous target of building 26,000 public houses by 2026 has been “challenging to achieve” (indeed, it may not be achieved…) “I think we still can stimulate construction in the public sector,” he told parliament, suggesting “the implementation rate is now increasing”.
“We have an implementation rate of 27% for these 26,000 homes and, according to the information the municipalities provided to us at the end of June, 13,429 homes will be ready under this programme,” he said (ie 12, 571 won’t be ready)
The prime minister also conceded that ways need to be found around “administrative and bureaucratic obstacles” that delay the construction of new homes, desperately needed by hundreds of thousands of citizens.
Source material: LUSA
