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In comparison, as early as 2001, Singapore has launched the
Construction and Real Estate Network (CORENET), an internet-based
system that enables AEC professionals to submit project related plans
and documents to regulatory authorities for various kinds of approvals,
including planning approvals, building plan approvals, structural plan
approvals, temporary occupation permits, fire safety certificates, and so
on. It also helps create a central repository of building and construction
related information accessible anytime, online, replacing heterogeneous
information from multiple sources in varying formats and different versions.

We urge the Hong Kong government to actively review the relevant
procedures in land development, and where possible, take advantages of
the latest technological development to streamline the existing processes.
We hope that the newly established Innovation and Technology Bureau
could provide the necessary policy support to these initiatives, which will be
crucial for the longer-term goal for Hong Kong to become a “smart city”.

Obviously, this cannot be done without extra resources, for
example to increase the manpower dedicated for approving development
plans and related works, as well as integrating the different systems across
multiple departments and providing training for relevant officers. This is
especially necessary as the government has significantly stepped up its
efforts in land and housing supply. It is natural to expect more resources to
be channelled in this aspect of work.

However, statistics on government expenditure seem to paint
another picture. We have collated the data about the recurrent expenditure
on Planning and Lands under the Development Bureau over the past years,
and have found that during the six fiscal years from 2010/11 to 2016/17, the
said expenditure rose by 43.3%, whereas aggregate recurrent government
expenditure actually expanded by 55.7% over the same period. In terms
of annual average growth, the former grew at a rate of 6.2% p.a., lagging
notably behind the corresponding figure of 7.7% for the latter (Table 12).

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