After graduation, it did not come to Mr Chan’s mind to join the Government in the first place. He applied for several jobs, both in the private sector as well as in the Civil Service. He shared, “One of my classmates and I were assigned to the same group interview session for the civil service recruitment. As I had already got a job offer elsewhere, I was more relaxed about this interview. To be honest, I did not plan to join the Civil Service at first, yet both of us were invited for the medical examination and I went for the body check only as asked by my friend. Ironically, I was the one who was selected for appointment. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or destiny, but somehow I am here today.”

Mr Chan first joined the Civil Service as Assistant Electronics Engineer in the then Electrical and Mechanical Office (now renamed as Electrical and Mechanical Services Department) for a two-year apprenticeship. This post gave him a two-year hands-on induction, with useful exposure not available from a textbook. He explained, “When I joined the Government which had a much smaller establishment back then, I got the opportunity to work at a wide range of public facilities and services, including the airport, public hospitals and various municipal venues. The apprenticeship provided purposefully covered numerous kinds of deployment to let me, as a fresh graduate, appreciate different types of engineering installations across the community and that was an eye-opening experience.”

This frequent and varied job rotation has continued throughout his career in the Civil Service, giving Mr Chan a broad overview of the work of many bureaux and departments in the Government. He said, “In the subsequent years, I have been seconded to different bureaux and departments for various kinds of assignments, such as overseeing the development of an asset management system for the provisional Hospital Authority, organising the 2008 Beijing Olympic Equestrian Events, as well as working in the then Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau. Whenever I am tasked with a new job, I always make the best out of it and do my best. I love to take up challenges and I recalled that the Chief Executive also once mentioned this in a press interview — that was precisely why I was selected for this position.”

Transport is one of the two key areas under the purview of the Transport and Housing Bureau headed by Mr Chan. He said, “When we talk about transport, we are actually talking about connectivity, both externally—with all other places in the world, and internally—moving people and cargo within the city efficiently and safely. The Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), although with limited size, is one of the busiest airports in the world and is of great value to Hong Kong. It handles a significant flow of over 200,000 passengers in average, as well as the huge amount of cargo, flying in and out of Hong Kong every day.”

Mr Chan gave a speech at the Hong Kong Shipowners Association Annual Cocktail Reception cum International Chamber of Shipping (China) Liaison Office Launch Ceremony.

Mr Chan further explained, “There are five million tonnes of air cargo moving in and out within one year—accounting for over 40% of the total trade value of Hong Kong (USD$1.2 trillion). Hong Kong plays a very significant role in international merchandise trade, and is the eighth biggest importer and exporter globally. Such remarkable performance would not have been possible without a world-class airport. So, when we mention the significance of the HKIA, we are not merely talking about the number of planes or flights, but also the immense economic benefits and contribution it brings to Hong Kong.”

The overall cargo volume has been impacted by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. Mr Chan noted, “Cargo volumes dropped roughly by 10% in total for January and February 2020. But behind the scenes, our cargo flights continue to work extremely efficiently—and that’s very important because it provides Hong Kong with an economic lifeline. Over the years, there is increase in cargo flights to meet an upsurge of international online orders.” He added, “We have seen a shift in the types of cargo being carried by air, and nearly 40% of air cargo is currently being carried on passenger flights. Nowadays, the younger generations often shop online, buying goods of different varieties from other economies, and expect that the goods can be delivered to Hong Kong in no time. This uptick in e-commerce is indeed rapidly transforming the pattern of cross-border trading logistics—with a shift from slow shipments of traditional low-value bulky cargos to a much speedier delivery of lightweight, high-value cargos.”

Housing is undoubtedly another major issue that Mr Chan has to deal with, and Hong Kong is not alone in coping with the challenges. With the continued growth of the global population and migration to urban areas, Mr Chan remarked, “According to the United Nations, in the next 30 years, about 2.5 billion people will migrate from rural and suburban areas to cities. This explains why many cities are crammed with more and more people, and why the problem of insufficient housing resources is becoming increasingly common.” Back to the local scene, he said, “In Hong Kong, the situation is even more challenging, as we have limited land of which around 75% cannot be developed at the moment as it comprises country parks, water bodies, swamps or agricultural land. The two key challenges lie with identifying suitable land resources and providing sufficient housing.”

Hong Kong has been relying on reclamation over the past few decades to help create more land for housing. Mr Chan said, “Most of Hong Kong’s new towns were developed on newly reclaimed land, for example, Sha Tin, Tseung Kwan O, Tuen Mun, Tai Po and Tsuen Wan. As Hong Kong continues to develop, we have to resolve the demand for more land. However, from the perspective of environmental protection, we have to ensure the conservation of crucial ecologically-sensitive areas, which sometimes means leaving the coastline untouched. So, we have to make difficult and well-balanced choices in this regard.”

There are currently about 150,000 general applications for public rental housing (PRH) by ordinary families and one-person applicants and about 110,000 non-elderly one-person applications under the Quota and Points System. Mr Chan pointed out, “Around 46% of the population of Hong Kong now live in public housing, in over 800,000 PRH units. The average waiting time for PRH is around 5.4 years for general applicants, and around 3 years for elderly one-person applicants. The challenge we are facing is that it would take many years for Hong Kong to house all those who have been waiting for long. While we have identified the land required for building more than 270,000 public housing units in the next ten years, there remains a shortfall of land for providing sufficient housing units to address in full the demand for PRH. Housing for all is indeed a ceaseless mission that we must soldier on.”

In view of the property prices in Hong Kong nowadays, purchase of a property as home is still very much a pipe dream for many people in Hong Kong, and the Government has been working hard to provide different options for local residents. Mr Chan said, “To meet the housing need of those who can’t afford to purchase a property from the private market, we are committed to exploring every possible means to increase supply of public housing. A myriad of short-term, mid-term and long-term solutions is required.”

Mr Chan (front row, second left) visited Wong Tai Sin District and was briefed on the redevelopment programme for Mei Tung House and Mei Po House, as well as the rehousing arrangement of the affected tenants.

Both the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society have been looking at temporary measures to maximise existing resources and avoid leaving any public housing units idle. Mr Chan said, “We are trying to maximise the potential of existing housing stock. For example, people who have purchased flats under the Home Ownership Scheme are now allowed to let them out, in whole or in part. Every time a single room is let out to someone hitherto living in a subdivided unit, it can at least enable one tenant to live in better accommodation.”

Another short-term measure to help increase supply is the Flat-for-Flat Scheme (FFFS). Mr Chan explained, “Under the FFFS, elderly tenants may choose to move from their bigger public housing units to smaller public housing units and they can live there for free for the rest of their lives. We can then reallocate the bigger housing units to larger families on the waiting list of the PRH. The FFFS can also provide a means for elderly residents to move closer to their family members and friends.”

Mr Chan added, “These two initiatives showcase the efforts we have made in the past two years. Our colleagues are trying their very best to do everything possible—and leaving no stone unturned—to free up more PRH units to allow more people to have their homes and through which to make a difference to their lives.”

The Government has also worked together with non-governmental organisations (NGO) to create more housing options. Mr Chan said, “The Community Housing Movement (CHM) is a scheme which the Government solicits idle residential properties from the private developers and then brings in architects, engineers, utility companies and benefactors to help renovate the units on a pro-bono basis into affordable residential accommodation. NGOs will then manage these units and rent them to suitable tenants for a couple of years. The scheme is open to everyone, but the applicants have to meet the general requirement of being on the PRH waiting list for no less than three years. The core idea is that these families can then live in some form of ‘transitional’ community housing for two to three years until they reach the front of the queue for allocation of a PRH unit for long-term housing. So far, we have in hand more than 900 such units.”

The CHM, which first started in September 2017 with funding by The Community Chest of Hong Kong, has since led to the development of “transitional housing” wholly-funded by the Government. Mr Chan explained, “In the past two and a half years, we have brought in our own ‘transitional housing’ projects. They primarily involve existing government properties or land which are given a new lease of life and re-appropriated as functional housing units for those who need them most. Last year, the Chief Executive set a target of providing 10,000 such housing units in the next three years, and with a gradual increase to 15,000 units. To date, we have managed to secure sufficient land for over 10,000 units.”

Mr Chan (fifth from left) hosted a symposium on the connecting and co-creating of transitional housing.

Mr Chan (right) visited the shuttle bus ticket counter in the departure hall of the Passenger Clearance Building at the Hong Kong Port of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

Mr Chan highlighted, “Transitional housing, while useful, is still very much our ‘side-lines’. Our core business is to draw up long-term housing solutions. This process starts with identifying suitable land, and we work closely with the Development Bureau to help increase public housing supply through various measures including the resumption of private land for public housing or Starter Homes for Hong Kong Residents projects. We also endeavour to enhance the domestic plot ratio of public housing sites in selected areas to a maximum of 130% where technically feasible, so that we can build more public housing units on the same lot of land.”

The Housing Department (HD) is also working hard to shorten the delivery timeline of housing development projects. Mr Chan explained, “If a piece of land is made available to us now, we can deliver the development project on the site within about five years. HD endeavours to further speed up the construction process through exploring new technology and approaches. For example, we can now build a whole storey of PRH building within a week through the adoption of a 6-day construction cycle using precast concrete construction by assembling on site prefabricated units manufactured in Mainland factories and will continue to strive for the enhanced precast concrete construction for future public housing developments.”

With the on-going development of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), Mr Chan highlighted the significance of Hong Kong’s role in the region. He said, “Around 150 years ago, there was nothing much in Hong Kong; it was just a ‘barren rock’ with few natural resources. Currently, over 93% of our Gross Domestic Product comes from the services sector, and the agriculture and manufacturing sectors only contributed a small share. Hong Kong surely has our own advantages but there is also ample room for us to join hands with the other cities in the GBA to enhance the value-creation processes and drive economic development for the benefit of us all. The GBA can serve as a powerhouse to manufacture products not just for our own consumption, but also for Hong Kong’s export and trade. It can also give us the land needed to help spark our imagination and enhance our connectivity with other economies.” He added, “The development of the GBA is key to Hong Kong remaining as a world-leading talent hub, by nurturing the clustering of talents, imagination, technology and creativity. It will continue to help create wealth and value for Hong Kong.”

Work aside, Mr Chan shared his joy in doing volunteer work. He has been serving as a volunteer for The Community Chest of Hong Kong for years. Mr Chan also founded the Association for Engineering and Medical Volunteering Services in 1982, with a membership spanning across engineers, doctors and social workers. He said, “With some members being doctors or engineers, we realised that we could design and produce technical aids and adaptive devices for people with disabilities. We can develop innovative, safe and practical solutions to help the disabled in their daily life by capitalising on our expertise in the engineering and medical fields. By making our share of contribution to a more inclusive community, it also gives us great joy and satisfaction.”

Mr Chan concluded, “Everyone has his/her own set of values, and this is something we should hold onto in our workplace. Teamwork is always key to success, and colleagues can always contribute by sharing views from different perspectives in a constructive manner. By serving with professionalism and integrity, we can work together and lead Hong Kong to a better future.”

Mr Chan (right) exchanged views with the Deputy Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Mr Lyu Erxue (left) on issues including the aviation development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.