Hong Kong’s leader is delivering his fourth policy address, vowing to improve people’s livelihoods, which he says is his “ultimate objective in governance”.

Halfway through his annual blueprint, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has unveiled a new system to hold senior civil servants accountable, allowing the government to slash underperforming officials’ salaries, order compulsory retirement or even dismiss them.

He has also vowed to take personal charge in expediting the development of the Northern Metropolis near the border with mainland China by chairing a new decision-making body overseeing the megaproject.

The blueprint is considered crucial to Lee as he has less than two years to deliver on his agenda before his current term expires in mid-2027.

Follow the Post’s live coverage of this year’s policy address as Lee prepares to deliver his blueprint before the Legislative Council at 11am.

Key points:

• Expediting the Northern Metropolis development by setting up dedicated legislation and a committee chaired by the city leader

• Setting up an accountability system for senior civil servants

• Strengthening the stock and bond markets while expediting the building of the gold trading market

• Enhancing the cash-for-residency scheme by lowering the residential property transaction price threshold from HK$50 million to HK$30 million

• Increasing the non-local undergraduate quota at public universities and allowing semi-private primary and secondary schools to admit more non-local students on a self-funded basis

• Promoting the international recognition of the city’s public examinations

• Establishing an Economic and Trade Office in Kuala Lumpur and expanding the network to Latin America and Central Asia

• Developing yacht economy by facilitating vessels travelling between Hong Kong and the mainland

• Increasing subsidised housing supply to offer more home-buying options for different social classes

• Rolling out measures and exempting certain fees to support SMEs

• Imposing new requirements on employers applying to bring in imported labour to crack down on abuse

• Setting up a high-level working group on ageing society strategies

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Reporting by Leopold Chen, Denise Tsang, Ambrose Li, Lo Hoi-ying, Oscar Liu, Elizabeth Cheung, Jess Ma, Edith Lin, Connor Mycroft, Jeffie Lam and Matthew Cheng