'Kau Yi Chau delay no effect on coming housing supply'
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho insisted that delaying the government's Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands project will not affect the supply of public housing in the coming decade. The administration has vowed to press on with the ambitious reclamation plan, which Financial Secretary Paul Chan said will be delayed by two or three years.  "For the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands [project], the land supply is in the second five-year [period]. When we get the land, we still take some time to build the building, and it will take a few years. All along, the public housing supply from the artificial islands is outside this 10-year period," said the housing minister. "In short, the supply within the 10-year period has not been affected." When asked about the removal of the so-called "spicy" measures, Ho reassured the public that the administration, along with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, has the capacity to respond to different scenarios that arise.  "We will watch the market very closely; we will watch all the different conditions very closely. If needed, we can use the same system to control various situations," she said. "We have very healthy measures in hand... These measures altogether will help us to control the situation, whatever it turns out to be."  Various extra stamp duties, introduced more than a decade ago to curb speculation, were lifted in the financial chief's latest budget on Wednesday.