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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Wai-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (October 26):
Question:
It has been learnt that the Government granted land to franchised bus companies for their operational use. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the details of the land granted by the Government to franchised bus companies at present (set out in the table in Annex I);
(b) of the conditions which the Government will take into account in granting land to franchised bus companies, and the form in which the authorities will make the relevant land grants; and
(c) up to the present, among the land granted in (a), of the number of pieces of land for which approval has been granted by the authorities for the franchised bus companies concerned to change their uses; the reasons for granting such approval; the respective amount paid by franchised bus companies to change the use of each piece of land, and how such amounts were calculated?
Reply:
President,
(a) The details of the land granted by the Government to franchised bus companies and the major conditions of the grants are at Annex II (All sites were granted for use as bus depots or relevant purposes).
(b) At present, the Lands Department (LandsD) grants land to franchised bus companies by way of short term tenancies (STTs) for use as bus depots or relevant purposes. Subject to the availability of suitable sites and policy support from the Transport and Housing Bureau, franchised bus companies may apply to LandsD for leasing the sites under STTs for setting up bus depots. LandsD will, in consultation with the concerned departments, consider granting STTs directly to franchised bus companies. It will be stipulated in the STTs that the sites can only be used as bus depots or relevant purposes, and the franchised bus companies have to pay the market rent to the Government.
(c) According to LandsD's record, no approval has been given for franchised bus companies to change the land use of any of the sites listed in Annex under reference in paragraph (a) above.
Ends/Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Issued at HKT 11:31
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