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Hong Kong politics
Hong KongHealth & Environment

Hong Kong’s Lands Department chief shifts to newly created director position at Food and Health Bureau amid Covid-19 battle

  • Position shift has no relation to recent housing controversies linked to assistant police commissioner, source says
  • Thomas Chan is understood to be the heir apparent to the bureau’s permanent secretary, Elizabeth Tse, when she retires in June

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Thomas Chan is being transferred from the Lands Department to a new role with the city’s Food and Health Bureau designed to focus on the Covid-19 war. Photo: Edward Wong
Lilian Cheng

A senior Hong Kong official supervising land issues has been reassigned to assist in the city’s battle with Covid-19 in the latest reshuffle of senior civil servants.

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Thomas Chan Chung-ching, director of the Lands Department since 2017, will be transferred to the Food and Health Bureau, where he will take over the newly created position of director of (Health) Special Duties.

It is understood that Chan, 50, would be the successor of existing permanent secretary Elizabeth Tse Man-yee when she retires in June, a source familiar with the situation said.

Tony Moyung, deputy director, will serve as acting director of the Lands Department for the moment.

According to a government source, the transfer had been in the works since before the recent government reshuffle, and was unrelated to recent controversies over the government-licensed houses linked to assistant police commissioner Rupert Dover.

Chan has led the Lands Department for two years and 10 months. A normal tenure for a director would be three years.

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The news comes as the city strives to maintain a streak of low levels of Covid-19 infections, while facing a potential wave from thousands of residents set to return from countries such as India and Pakistan.

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