Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan today announced several measures to integrate technological and industrial innovations through key infrastructure projects, including Hetao Hong Kong Park and San Tin Technopole.

Through tripartite co-operation, the Government intends to channel land and corporate resources towards target industries for priority development in Hong Kong. Encouraging greater participation in innovation and technology by the business sector will expedite development of the Northern Metropolis.

Planning for Phase 2 of Hetao Hong Kong Park is complete and the Government will seek Legislative Council approval to inject $10 billion into the park company to accelerate development..

To create a comprehensive industrial ecosystem, the Government will establish a dedicated company this year with the aim injecting $10 billion to move forward with development of the San Tin Technopole.

 

Aerospace collaboration

The finance chief said today that Hong Kong is well-positioned to connect the Mainland’s aerospace industry with global markets by providing professional services in research and development (R&D), financing and risk management.

The Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises will take the lead in identifying and attracting aerospace firms to establish a presence in the city. To further support the sector, the Government has requested Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing to review listing requirements to facilitate the entry of aerospace enterprises into the local capital market.

Driving RISC-V innovation

The Hong Kong Investment Corporation is actively promoting the R&D and industrialisation of RISC-V technology through strategic investments and the establishment of the Hong Kong RISC-V Alliance.

The alliance aims to leverage this open-source technology to foster cross-industry co-operation among academia, industry and the investment sector within the Greater Bay Area and international markets.

Advancing emerging technologies

The Government is accelerating the commercialisation of new materials with two startups set to launch production lines at EcoPark this year and the third InnoHK research cluster, establishing new R&D centres focused on advanced manufacturing and sustainability.

To the foster the next wave of artificial intelligence (AI), the Government and the Hong Kong Investment Corporation are building a robust ecosystem for embodied AI.

Strategic investment

The Financial Secretary said today that the Government is currently selecting managers for its $10 billion Innovation & Technology Industry-Oriented Fund, with operations set to begin this year to channel market capital into strategic fields like life and health technology and AI.

To further bolster cross-boundary collaboration within the Greater Bay Area, the Government will also review and enhance tax arrangement for R&D expenditures.

Patient capital

The Hong Kong Investment Corporation has invested in over 190 projects to date. As the initial $62 billion capital has been largely allocated, the Government will arrange capital injections to further promote industry clustering and the development of frontier technology.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Overall consumer prices rose 1.1% year-on-year in January, a smaller increase than the 1.4% year-to-year rise recorded in December, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

Netting out the effects of the Government’s one-off relief measures, the underlying inflation rate was 1% in January, also less than that seen in the previous month.

Compared with January 2025, year-on-year increases in prices were recorded in the following categories: electricity, gas and water; miscellaneous services; alcoholic drinks and tobacco; miscellaneous goods; transport; housing; and meals out and takeaway food.

Meanwhile, year-on-year decreases were logged for durable goods; clothing and footwear; and basic food.

The Government said that the smaller increases in January were mainly due to the high base of comparison stemming from the Chinese New Year taking place in January last year, while the 2026 Chinese New Year fell in mid-February.

It added that price pressures on various major components remained largely contained in general.

Looking ahead, external price pressures are expected to largely stay moderate, but domestic costs may rise as the Hong Kong economy continues to grow. Nevertheless, overall inflation should stay mild in the near term.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said today in his 2026-27 Budget that the Government will continue to promote the integrated development of culture, sports and tourism to provide a better urban living experience for residents and visitors.

In the coming year, the Government will allocate $1.66 billion to the Tourism Board. The board will scale up its flagship events and promotions, introducing new elements, extending the duration of events, and organising more signature festive events to highlight Hong Kong’s East-meets-West uniqueness.

Building on the success of last year’s “Immersive Light Show in Central”, which featured spectacular 3D light shows, the board will launch a brand-new show focused on the theme of light festivals. It will be held at various locations at different times of the year and will replace “A Symphony of Lights”.

To attract high-end overnight visitors, the Tourism Board will step up marketing efforts in source markets with good potential, including Mainland cities outside Guangdong, and emerging markets such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries and the Middle East. 

Hong Kong will also continue strengthening co-operation with the Greater Bay Area and other Mainland provinces and municipalities, and exploring options for multi-destination flight itineraries with airlines.

On revitalising historic buildings, Mr Chan said the Government will earmark additional funding of $1 billion for the Built Heritage Conservation Fund to carry on its work.

Following the opening of the Eastern Section of the East Coast Boardwalk in North Point at the end of last year, the 13km-long harbourfront from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan has now been fully pedestrianised.

Adhering to the incremental approach taken in enhancing the harbourfront, the Government plans to conduct a consultation on the construction of a pedestrian walkway at the praya in Kennedy Town in the second quarter of this year. Following the phased opening of a waterfront site near Hung Hom Station this quarter, Kowloon’s harbourfront promenades will extend to about 15km in length.

To support the “tourism is everywhere” ethos and promote “urban-rural integration”, the Budget proposes allocating $200 million to launch the “Northern Metropolis Urban-rural Integration Fund” as a pilot scheme. The scheme aims to encourage non-governmental organisations and relevant bodies to take forward rural tourism projects and bring economic vitality to rural villages.

With regard to sports, the Government will allocate more resources to promote sports in the community, support elite sports, maintain Hong Kong as a centre for major international sports events, enhance professionalism in sports, and develop sports as an industry.

It will inject $1.2 billion into the sports portion of the Arts & Sport Development Fund to further promote sports development, including strengthening training for team sports athletes, improving the professional standards of coaches, and bringing more diverse and higher-level sports competitions to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, as part of its ambition to develop Hong Kong into a global trading hub for “premium” arts, the Government is due to finalise the details of its collaboration with Art Basel over the coming five years.

To strengthen Hong Kong’s position as one of the world’s top three arts trading centres, the Government has initiated a study focused on exploring areas such as financing and talent development. The study is expected to be completed this year.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan revealed that in 2025-26, the Government’s Operating Account will return to a surplus ahead of schedule and is expected to register a surplus throughout the period from 2026-27 to 2030-2031.

Mr Chan observed that overall, the Government’s public finances have seen significant improvement.

Delivering the 2026-27 Budget Speech today, Mr Chan noted that the Budget last year introduced a reinforced fiscal consolidation programme with the aim of achieving fiscal balance.

Over the past year, on top of its full commitment to implementing the programme, the Government also saw an increase in revenue from stamp duties and profits tax, by nearly $50 billion in total, compared to the original estimate.

As a result, in 2025-26, the Operating Account will return to a surplus ahead of schedule, while the Consolidated Account will be broadly balanced after taking into account the net proceeds from bond issuance.

In the medium term, Mr Chan said the Capital Account will nevertheless still record a deficit annually, mainly due to a high level of capital works expenditure. 

As infrastructure projects are an investment in Hong Kong’s future, the Government will meet the financing needs by suitably increasing bond issuance. 

Fiscal consolidation

The Financial Secretary said the Government will follow through with the fiscal consolidation programme by strictly containing the growth of operating expenditure.

Specifically, it will take forward the Productivity Enhancement Programme as planned, to cut the recurrent expenditure by 2% in both 2026-27 and 2027-28. Such moves will deliver further savings of about $7.8 billion and $15.6 billion respectively over 2025-26.

The plan will be launched on the premise that the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Social Security Allowance and statutory expenditures will not be affected, Mr Chan emphasised.

The civil service establishment will be reduced by 2% in each of the coming two financial years to an estimated level of about 188,000 posts by April 1. As a result, a cumulative total of over 10,000 posts will be deleted within the current-term Government.

Mr Chan said the Government will uphold the “affordable users pay” principle in raising revenue.

The rates of stamp duty on residential property transactions valued above $100 million will be raised from 4.25% to 6.5%, affecting about 0.3% of residential property transactions. 

It is estimated that revenue will increase by about $1 billion per year. The measure will take retrospective effect from tomorrow upon passage of the amendment bill by the Legislative Council.

The Government will also optimise the use of its financial resources. Funds established outside its accounts will be consolidated with a view to bringing back about $15.8 billion to the Government’s accounts in 2026-27.

To optimise the use of the Bond Fund’s surplus, the Government will introduce a resolution to LegCo to enable the transfer of the accumulated fund surplus to the Consolidated Account in 2026-27.

In addition, Mr Chan proposed transferring $75 billion in each of the coming two financial years, totalling $150 billion, from the Exchange Fund to the Capital Works Reserve Fund. The $150 billion in transfer will support the Northern Metropolis and other infrastructure projects.

Bond issuance

The Government’s capital works expenditure is estimated to be about $128 billion for 2026-27. As the Government will accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis and other economy and livelihood related works projects, it plans to raise the total borrowing ceiling of the green bonds and infrastructure bonds programmes, from $700 billion announced last year to $900 billion. 

During the Medium Range Forecast period, the ratio of government debt to Gross Domestic Product will rise from 14.4% to 19.9%, which, Mr Chan said, is a highly prudent level and well below that of most advanced economies.

Proceeds from bond issuance will be used to invest in infrastructure only, but not for government recurrent expenditure, he emphasised.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said today the main purpose of the Exchange Fund is to defend Hong Kong’s financial stability and its financial system.

The 2026-27 Budget proposed to transfer $150 billion from the Exchange Fund to the Capital Works Reserve Fund in the coming two years to support the Northern Metropolis and other infrastructure projects.

At the Budget press conference this afternoon, Mr Chan explained the rationale behind the transfer and emphasised that it is a safe play.

“Last year, the Exchange Fund made an investment income of over $300 billion. Now we are transferring from the Exchange Fund, about half of it, $150 billion, in two installments commencing from 2026-27.”

“Having regard to the current size of the Exchange Fund, which is over $4,100 billion, and considering that we are just taking half of their income earned last year, back to the Government, also for investment purposes, we do think this is a considered, prudent move,” Mr Chan added.

“We are very confident that given our various measures in place and the strong buffer of the Exchange Fund, we would be able to weather any volatility or even attack to our financial system.”

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

In his Budget speech today, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the revised estimate of total government revenue in 2025-26 is about $688.8 billion, higher than the original estimate by 4.5%. Fiscal reserves are expected to be $657.2 billion at end-March 2026.

Supporting citizens, enterprises

To relieve the economic pressure faced by citizens and enterprises, Mr Chan – having taken into account the Government’s fiscal position this year – proposed a number of measures in the 2026-27 Budget:

(a) provide rates concession for domestic properties for the first two quarters of 2026-27, subject to a ceiling of $500 for each rateable property ‒ this measure is estimated to involve about 3.15 million domestic properties and reduce government revenue by about $3.1 billion;

(b) provide rates concession for non-domestic properties for the first two quarters of 2026-27, subject to a ceiling of $500 for each rateable property ‒ this measure is estimated to involve about 440,000 non-domestic properties and reduce government revenue by about $400 million;

(c) reduce salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for the year of assessment 2025-26 by 100%, subject to a ceiling of $3,000 ‒ the reduction will be reflected in the final tax payable for the year of assessment 2025-26, benefitting about 2.12 million taxpayers and reducing government revenue by about $5.3 billion;

(d) reduce profits tax for the year of assessment 2025-26 by 100%, subject to a ceiling of $3,000 ‒ the reduction will be reflected in the final tax payable for the year of assessment 2025-26, benefitting about 171,000 businesses and reducing government revenue by about $500 million; and

(e) provide an allowance for eligible social security recipients, equal to one month of the standard rate Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments, Old Age Allowance, Old Age Living Allowance or Disability Allowance, while similar arrangements will apply to recipients of the Working Family Allowance, altogether involving an additional expenditure of about $6.5 billion.

In addition, starting from the year of assessment 2026-27, the Budget proposed:

(1) increasing the basic allowance and single parent allowance from $132,000 to $145,000, and the married person’s allowance from $264,000 to $290,000, benefitting about 2.09 million taxpayers and reducing tax revenue by about $3.56 billion a year;

(2) increasing the child allowance and additional child allowance from $130,000 to $140,000, benefitting about 360,000 taxpayers and reducing tax revenue by about $680 million a year; and

(3) increasing the allowance for maintaining a dependent parent or grandparent, and raising the deduction ceiling for elderly residential care expenses ‒ these measures will benefit about 830,000 taxpayers and reduce tax revenue by about $970 million a year.

Specifically, the allowance for maintaining a dependent parent or grandparent aged 60 or above will be raised from $50,000 to $55,000. The same increase applies to the additional allowance for taxpayers residing with these parents or grandparents.

Meanwhile, the allowance for maintaining a dependent parent or grandparent aged 55 to 59 will be increased from $25,000 to $27,500. The same increase applies to the additional allowance for taxpayers residing with these parents or grandparents.

Furthermore, the deduction ceiling for elderly residential care expenses will be adjusted, from $100,000 to $110,000, for taxpayers whose parents or grandparents are admitted to eligible residential care homes.

Government revenue

On government revenue, Mr Chan said: “Due to a buoyant equity market and an accelerated economic growth, the revenue estimate from stamp duties is revised to $99.5 billion, an increase of about $31.9 billion from the original estimate. Revenue from profits tax has increased by about $16.8 billion while that from salaries tax remains stable, with the revised estimates at $209 billion and $97 billion respectively, demonstrating the strong resilience of Hong Kong’s economy.

“However, as the residential property market has just stabilised while the commercial property market remains relatively sluggish, government revenue from land premium stays low with the revised estimate at $17.5 billion, lower than the original estimate by $3.5 billion.”

Government expenditure

The finance chief said the revised estimate of total government expenditure for 2025-26 is $789.2 billion, lower than the original estimate by $33.1 billion. Of this, recurrent expenditure is $572.4 billion, lower than the original estimate by $15.7 billion.

The Operating Account for 2025-26, which was originally estimated to record a deficit of about $3 billion, will register a surplus of $51.3 billion. The Capital Account will record a deficit due to low revenue from land premiums, coupled with high capital works expenditure to cater for the accelerated development of the Northern Metropolis and other public works projects.

Factoring in the issuance of government bonds of $155 billion and repayments of $51.7 billion, it is expected that the Consolidated Account will register a surplus of $2.9 billion instead of a deficit of about $67 billion as originally estimated.

Separately, the major policy initiatives announced in the 2025 Policy Address involve $7.4 billion in operating expenditure, $32 billion in capital expenditure and $20 billion in financial commitments. There will be about $1.3 billion in revenue forgone. The financial implications of such initiatives have been reflected in the estimates for 2026-27.

Total government expenditure for 2026-27 will increase by about 6.9% to $843.4 billion, with its ratio to nominal gross domestic product projected to be 24.2%.

Recurrent expenditure for 2026-27 will increase by 4.8% to $599.7 billion. Of this, substantial resources will continue to be allocated to livelihood-related policy areas including healthcare, social welfare and education, involving a total of $357.1 billion and representing about 60% of recurrent expenditure. Non-recurrent expenditure will increase by 36.9% to $40.5 billion.

Total government revenue for 2026-27 is estimated to be $765.2 billion. A consolidated surplus of $22.1 billion is expected for the year, and the fiscal reserves will rise to $679.3 billion.

Medium Range Forecast

In the Medium Range Forecast spanning 2026-27 to 2030-31, a real economic growth rate of 3% is adopted. The finance chief expects that there will be a surplus in the Operating Account for each of the next five years, while the Capital Account will still record a deficit due to expenditure on infrastructure. After taking account of net proceeds from the issuance of bonds, the Consolidated Account will register a surplus in each of the next five years.

Fiscal reserves are estimated at $733.7 billion by the end of March 2031, representing 17.3% of gross domestic product, or equivalent to about 10 months of government expenditure, he added.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan proposed in his 2026-27 Budget today to refine the associated tax regime and institutional framework, nurture talent and leverage the city’s strengths in professional services, with a view to boosting economic development through driving intellectual property (IP) trading and financing.

Delivering his speech this morning, Mr Chan said reducing costs will facilitate more relevant trading activities, which would be conducive to the development of knowledge-intensive industries and could reinforce Hong Kong’s position as a regional IP trading centre.

He noted that the Government is consulting the trade on tax deduction arrangements for capital expenditure incurred for purchasing IP or the rights to use IP and plans to introduce an amendment bill this year.

In addition, the Government has earmarked $28 million to support the Hong Kong Technology & Innovation Support Centre in providing innovation and technology (I&T) enterprises with patent evaluation based on Guobiao, and implementing the two-year Pilot Patent Valuation Support Scheme to assist I&T enterprises for conducting valuation of their patent assets.

The Intellectual Property Department, together with the Vocational Training Council, will roll out a two-year pilot programme and establish the Intellectual Property Academy to provide on-the-job training linked to the Qualifications Framework. The Government has earmarked $52 million for the project, which is targeted to commence at the end of this year.

Highlighting another industry with a competitive edge, Mr Chan noted that the Department of Justice (DoJ) is preparing for the development of the Hong Kong International Legal Service Building as a new international legal hub landmark, which will be home to the headquarters of the Hong Kong International Legal Talents Training Academy and international legal and dispute resolution services institutions, etc. The preparatory works will commence this year.

The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law will establish its Asia‑Pacific Liaison Office in Hong Kong this year. Mr Chan pointed out that the DoJ will continue attracting international legal and dispute resolution services institutions to establish offices in Hong Kong. 

To strengthen the promotion of mediation and arbitration services, the Government will strengthen the regulatory framework for accreditation and disciplinary matters of the mediation profession in Hong Kong and take forward the legislative exercise this year.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Chief Executive John Lee today met Secretary of the CPC Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Committee Chen Gang at Government House to exchange views on deepening co-operation between Hong Kong and Guangxi.

Mr Chen is leading a delegation to attend a Guangxi promotion conference tomorrow. Mr Lee will witness and support the signing of a co-operation agreement between Guangix and Hong Kong at the conference.

Mr Lee higlighted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has established a “Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global”, and expressed confidence in working together with Guangxi to tap into overseas markets, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to explore more global business opportunities.

Mr Lee said that Hong Kong, as a core city in the Greater Bay Area, will proactively align with the National 15th Five-Year Plan to deepen co-operation, regional integration and efficient connectivity in the bay area.

In addition, he iterated that Hong Kong will harness its role under the “one country, two systems” principle in connecting with both the Mainland and the world, to promote Guangxi’s further opening-up internally and externally, seize bay area opportunities, and contribute to the country’s high-quality development.

The Chief Executive said he hopes the two places can deepen co-operation for mutual benefit, particularly through more in-depth and extensive exchanges in areas such as innovation and technology, and youth people.

He added that with the advancement of the Western New Land-Sea Corridor, Hong Kong and Guangxi will further strengthen practical co-operation in shipping and logistics, jointly seizing the immense opportunities presented by national development strategies.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan announced in his Budget a series of policy initiatives to consolidate and enhance Hong Kong’s status as an international trade centre, international aviation hub and international maritime centre.

Mr Chan noted that the Recommendations for Formulating the 15th Five‑Year Plan support Hong Kong to consolidate and enhance industries with a competitive edge.

To consolidate and enhance the city’s status as an international trade centre, he highlighted that Hong Kong has to expand its commerical and trade network through strengthening its role as the functional node for the Belt & Road Initiative.

The Government will collaborate with industry players to further develop the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Middle East markets, and explore the potential of Central Asia, South Asia and North Africa markets.

Meanwhile, the Government will forge more free trade agreements and investment agreements (IAs) and is exploring the signing of new IAs with Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

To further attract enterprises to set up in Hong Kong, last year’s Policy Address announced that the Government would formulate preferential policy packages to promote industries and investment.

The Financial Secretary said the Government has formulated a preliminary framework, which would take into account a series of factors, including the enterprise’s industry and its technology level, as well as the potential economic contributions and employment opportunities it can bring to Hong Kong.

Policy tools include land grant arrangements, financial subsidies and tax incentives. The preferential tax rates will be half‑rate or 5%. The Government will introduce an amendment bill this year.

Mr Chan will also establish and chair the Advisory Committee on Tax Policy to gather views widely from commercial, industrial and professional sectors, so that Hong Kong’s tax policy can reinforce economic development.

In addition, the Government will set up a cross-sectoral professional services platform to bring together Hong Kong’s professional services providers in the field of legal services, accounting, financial services, testing and certification, marketing, etc. to support Mainland enterprises in going global.

To promote further development of the exhibition industry and brand building as an international convention and exhibition hub, the Government will earmark $100 million for attracting large-scale international exhibitions with new elements to Hong Kong through collaborating with relevant organisations on a pilot basis.

Its objective is to develop Hong Kong into the first‑choice platform for showcasing Mainland and international brands, while attracting high‑spending business visitors to Hong Kong and driving high value-added economic activities.

The Budget also outlined measures to support local enterprises and strengthen their competitiveness.

The Government will inject $200 million into the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading & Domestic Sales (BUD Fund), raise the funding ceiling of “Easy BUD” to $150,000 per application, and provide more targeted funding support for enterprises in artifical intelligence application.

The Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation will introduce a pilot scheme this year to provide protection for small and medium enterprises engaging in exports with higher-risk buyers.

Additionally, the Centre for Food Safety will waive the fees related to the certification of food products export for two years. The Government will also introduce a new unified brand for local agricultural and fisheries products in the middle of this year, supported by a certification, testing and traceability mechanism.

To further enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness as an international aviation hub, Mr Chan highlighted that the Government will strive to enter into new air services agreements and expand traffic rights with regions demonstrating development potential, such as the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and South America.

He noted that the new passenger departure facilities at Terminal 2 of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) are scheduled to commence operations in May, which will substantially enhance the airport’s overall capacity.

In addition, the construction of the intermodal pier under Phase 1 of the HKIA Dongguan Logistics Park has been completed. The remaining works are expected to be completed within this year and targeted for commissioning in the first half of next year.

Hong Kong will also elevate its status as an international maritime centre, with the Government striving to promote smart logistics and digital transformation in the industry, while expanding the cargo hinterland to secure more transhipment cargo.

Mr Chan said the Government will launch the Future Innovative Logistics Acceleration Scheme this year to drive the transformation of the industry and enhance the interconnectivity of logistics data, with a view to increasing the competitiveness of the logistics industry and developing Hong Kong into an international smart logistics hub.

Meanwhile, the Government has reserved about 32 hectares of land in the Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen New Development Area for developing a modern logistics cluster and will invite expressions of interest from the industry for the development of the first site this year.

To further promote the development of high value added maritime services in Hong Kong, the Government will introduce an amendment bill in the first half of this year to enhance tax concession measures for the maritime service industry and provide a half rate tax concession to eligible commodities traders.

To consolidate Hong Kong’s premier position in ship registration, the Government will introduce an amendment bill this year to revamp the existing ship registration arrangements, including permitting a dual registration arrangement to cater for the diverse operating models of international maritime enterprises.

The Government will also provide port dues concessions for vessels powered by green fuel as well as those carrying green fuels to attract more vessels to bunker green fuel in Hong Kong. An incentive scheme will also be launched for green vessels registered in Hong Kong to encourage green transformation of Hong Kong fleets. All these involve government subsidies of around $34 million. The Government will take forward a legislative amendment exercise this year to provide more anchorages for green maritime fuel bunkering operations.

The finance chief added that the Government will amend the relevant legislation within this year to extend the current arrangements under the Air Transhipment Cargo Exemption Scheme to other sea transhipment and sea-air transhipment modes.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Financial Secretary Paul Chan today said the 2026-27 Land Sale Programme will include nine residential sites, while no general commercial sites will be put up for sale.

Delivering the 2026-27 Budget this morning, the Financial Secretary said the Government will make available land for the establishment of about 98,000 private housing units in the next five years. 

Factoring in the nine residential sites, railway property development projects, projects undertaken by the Urban Renewal Authority, as well as private development and redevelopment initiatives, Mr Chan said the potential land supply for the whole year is expected to provide capacity for some 22,000 units. 

He emphasised that the specific land sale arrangements will be announced on a quarterly basis after careful consideration of market conditions and other relevant circumstances for the market’s steady development.

He also highlighted that the Government will not put up general commercial sites for sale in the coming year, after considering the vacancy rate in the non-residential property market, supply, and demand.

In addition, the Hong Kong Investment Corporation will collaborate with regional and international long-term capital to channel funds into high-quality commercial property projects that align with the city’s industrial positioning and match them with enterprises from target industries.

Mr Chan said the Development Bureau is inviting the market to submit expressions of interest for post‑secondary student hostel development at three sites. Subject to market response, the relevant sites may be put up for tender.

The Financial Secretary also highlighted in his Budget that the Government is pressing ahead with the development of the Northern Metropolis (NM).

The first batch of site formation works for the innovation and technology (I&T) land at the San Tin Technopole and the university land at Hung Shui Kiu will be completed within this year. 

The Government will seek funding approval from the Legislative Council in 2026-27 to kickstart projects such as the site formation and engineering infrastructure works for the Ngau Tam Mei New Development Area and Stage 2 of the San Tin Technopole Phase 1 Development, and construction of the government joint-user complex in Kwu Tung North. 

Mr Chan also mentioned that the Government established the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company last month, adding that the company will develop and operate around 23 hectares of industry land in Hung Shui Kiu through direct participation and public‑private partnership, with a view to bringing in more industries in an accelerated manner. 

He said the Government plans to seek funding approval from LegCo to inject initial capital of $10 billion to support the company’s initial operation and development needs, thereby enabling its operation to commence by the middle of this year.

Furthermore, the Government is due to conduct public consultation on a proposal to introduce dedicated legislation to accelerate the NM’s development.

Mr Chan said the Government aims to introduce a bill in the middle of this year. 

In addition, the NM Project Supervision Office will expedite large-scale private development projects in the NM by strengthening co-ordination and imposing time limits on the approval process. Such administrative arrangements are also applicable to development projects outside the NM.

On housing supply, Mr Chan said the total public housing production in Hong Kong will be around 196,000 units in the coming five years, after taking into account Light Public Housing (LPH).

He added that this figure represents an increase of more than 80% compared to the five‑year period since the current‑term Government took office.

Mr Chan remarked that around 9,500 LPH units were built and commissioned last year, steadily moving towards the target of completing around 30,000 LPH units by 2027‑28.

Meanwhile, the Basic Housing Unit regulatory regime will come into effect in March with a 48‑month transitional arrangement.

Regarding private housing supply, it is estimated that the completion of private residential units will average around 17,000 units annually over a five-year period from this year. 

The potential supply of first‑hand private residential units for the next three to four years will be around 104,000 units.

On infrastructure development, Mr Chan said the Government is pressing ahead with a series of railway, major road, and Smart & Green Mass Transit System projects.

Among these, the Central Kowloon Bypass (Yau Ma Tei Section) is now open to traffic, while the remaining Kowloon Bay Section is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

As for railways, Mr Chan said projects including Kwu Tung Station, Tung Chung Line Extension, Hung Shui Kiu Station, Tuen Mun South Extension and Oyster Bay Station will be completed progressively from next year onwards.

In addition, Mr Chan highlighted that the Government will inject $1 billion into the Construction Innovation & Technology Fund. It has also earmarked $100 million to commission the Building Technology Research Institute to conduct various studies. These include reviewing construction standards and exploring artificial intelligence applications.