The School of Law (SLW) held the first talk in its Eminent Speakers Lecture Series for this academic year on 3 October, with guest speaker Ir Dr the Honourable Raymond Ho Chung-tai, a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council representing the Engineering Functional Constituency, presenting his lecture on "Sustainability Considerations for Infrastructure Development".

Dr Ho was welcomed by Professor Richard Ho Yan-ki, Acting President of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Professor (Chair) Wang Guiguo, Dean of SLW. In the welcoming speech, Professor Wang explained that the lecture series provided a public forum in which the University could interact with the wider community on issues relevant to our times and promoted intellectual discourse among scholars and students at CityU.

In his lecture, Dr Ho suggested that the concept of sustainable development provided the framework for economic growth and development with minimum negative impact on available resources, therefore allowing society to continue functioning indefinitely. The government is playing a leading role in embracing the concept of sustainability and its applications. As the concept can be adopted in many aspects of our lives, its successful application is also heavily reliant upon the participation of the private sector as well as the community as a whole.

"The practice of sustainable development requires initiatives from the government, while transparency in planning the policy should be improved by promoting more public participation," Dr Ho said. "When the government has received enough input, it needs to make a strong and firm decision to implement the policy."

Dr Ho is a Hong Kong Deputy to the Tenth National People's Congress of the PRC, Past President and Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), and a Fellow and Council Member of the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences. He has served as a Hong Kong Affairs Advisor, Chairman of the Transport Advisory Committee, Member of the Basic Law Consultative Committee, Council Chairman of CityU and Chairman of the Hong Kong Technology Committee of the Industry and Technology Development Council (ITDC).

The SLW's Eminent Speakers Lecture Series serves as a forum in which distinguished individuals from all walks of life are invited to present their views on topical issues relevant to the contemporary world.