Singapore’s Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong
Shares Urbanisation Story and Strategies

(17 May 2019, Hong Kong) Good urban planning is crucial to the future development of a city. Mr Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance, shared Singapore’s story and strategies on the topic of “Building for the Future – Singapore’s Urbanisation Experience” at the “Global Perspectives Series” seminar organised by Our Hong Kong Foundation (OHKF) with more than 200 community and business leaders in Hong Kong.

In his keynote address, Mr Wong shared Singapore’s various strategies, as a small city-state, to optimise its limited land resources in creating a liveable environment for all Singaporeans. Elaborating that Singapore faces a similar challenge as Hong Kong, Mr Wong outlined the Singapore Government’s long-term plans to ensure that sufficient land is safeguarded to meet Singaporeans’ housing needs, and its commitment to keep public housing affordable and accessible. 

Mr Wong also shared with the audience how the Singapore Government is harnessing technologies and investing in R&D to remake the city and build for the future. This is in view of how science and technology is a major game changer in urban planning, as well as global challenges such as climate change that will impact the country.

This is the first “Global Perspectives Series” seminar hosted by OHKF. By inviting global leaders to share their perspectives across a range of issues, the Hong Kong based think tank hopes to engage the public to explore ideas that will shape the city’s future, and help in finding solutions to navigate the increasingly complex socioeconomic landscape.

“Hong Kong and Singapore have a lot in common but one stood out from the rest – land scarcity,” Mrs Eva Cheng, Executive Director of OHKF, said in her welcome remarks. Through experience sharing and in-depth discussion, Mrs Cheng hopes both cities can overcome the zero-sum fallacy and start building for the future together. “To build a future that is more liveable, more sustainable, more cohesive and beneficial for all,” she added.

Mr Michael Wong, Secretary for Development of the HKSAR Government, attended the seminar and delivered an opening address. Several experts and business leaders participated in a panel to exchange views on Hong Kong and Singapore’s urban planning and future development. Panelists included Mr Antony Leung, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nan Fung Group; Professor Yuk-Shan Wong, President of the Open University of Hong Kong; Mr Wilfred Lau, Arup Fellow and Director of Arup; and Mr Stephen Wong, Deputy Executive Director and Head of Public Policy Institute, OHKF as moderator of the panel discussion.