Opinion

Can government revamp bring Hong Kong closer to achieving its climate goals?

Making our city greener and more sustainable is a complex task that requires the efforts of multiple bureaus

The Lee administration’s ability to deliver on this goal will be a test of whether the expensive restructuring leads to better cooperation between agencies

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John Lee leaves the Press Room of the Office of the Chief Executive-elect at Immigration Tower in Wan Chai on May 17, after speaking to media representatives about plans for the government restructuring. Photo: Nora Tam

Christine Loh is chief development strategist at the Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Published: 6:45am, 28 May 2022

The government restructuring plan is being implemented at top speed and will be in place by July 1 when John Lee Ka-chiu takes office. There are two aspects of the revamp most worthy of assessment. The first is whether it will enable stronger policymaking; the second, whether policies will be implemented more effectively.

Creating good policy involves having people with the right skills. They must understand the nature of a given problem, as well as the actual context within which it needs to be solved. They also need the political skills to deal with resistance to change, especially from vested interests.

This is easy to say but very difficult to accomplish, for any government in the world. Strong and clear leadership is vital. Political appointees must know what it takes to shape and carry out the chief executive’s policy aims, then work with the civil service to get the job done.

Aside from assembling a high-quality political team and promoting the right civil servants to support the crafting of policy details, the government also needs to ensure it has a strong internal structure for policy research and deliberation, and for identifying and managing crises.