********************************************************
The Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, announced today (December 24) that the Government would sell by tender six residential sites, one commercial site and one hotel site in the fourth quarter of this financial year (i.e. January to March 2013), which would produce about 3,000 flats, about 40,000 square metres of commercial gross floor area and about 480 hotel rooms respectively.
"In order to tackle the housing problem, the Government continues to supply land to the market on a sustained basis. The number of flats that could be provided in the next quarterly land sale programme at about 3,000 flats is the highest estimated flat production among all quarterly land sale programmes launched in the current financial year. This demonstrates the Government's firm commitment to increasing housing land supply," Mr Chan said.
Among the six residential sites to be initiated by the Government for sale in the next quarter, two are located in Kai Tak, and one each are in Tseung Kwan O, Ho Man Tin, Sha Tin Kau To and Tuen Mun respectively. The Government will implement the Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People measure at the two Kai Tak sites as a pilot as announced earlier.
"In order to better safeguard the quantity of flat supply, we will require developers to provide a certain specified minimum number of flats at the three sites in Kai Tak and Tseung Kwan O. The Lands Department (LandsD) will announce the details when the sites are about to be tendered," Mr Chan said.
In addition to residential sites, a commercial site in Tung Chung will also be tendered in the same quarter to meet the market demand. The site has good development potential as it is located in close proximity to tourist attractions such as Hong Kong Disneyland and Ngong Ping 360. Its disposal could also tie in with business opportunities to be brought about by the commencement of operation of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in 2016. Furthermore, the Government will sell a hotel site at the western part of the ex-North Point Estate to meet the demand of increasing visitors for hotel rooms.
Mr Chan said, "Our commitment to increase land supply remains firm. In the first three quarters of 2012-13 (i.e. April to December 2012), the Government has sold/will sell 16 residential sites on its own initiative. Another two residential sites successfully triggered by developers have also been sold. These 18 sites could provide about 5,100 flats in total. Together with the six residential sites to be sold in the fourth quarter of 2012-13 (i.e. January to March 2013), the Government has sold/will sell 24 residential sites in 2012-13, which could provide about 8,100 flats in total."
Announcing annually the List of Sites for Sale by Application and quarterly in advance the land sale programme of government-initiated land sale sites has become an established practice. This provides the market with a transparent and certain programme of land supply and at the same time allows the Government to respond to market demand and adjust the pace of government-initiated land sale, in order to maintain a steady supply of land to the market.
Railway property development projects continue to be an important source of housing land supply. Apart from the West Rail Tsuen Wan West Station TW5 (Bayside) project (about 2,384 flats) and the West Rail Long Ping Station (North) project (about 832 flats) already tendered out, the West Rail Tsuen Wan West Station TW6 project (about 894 flats) is being tendered by MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL). Furthermore, the West Rail Long Ping Station (South) project (about 720 flats) has made good progress and is expected to be tendered in the next year. MTRCL has also indicated that it hopes to re-tender the project at Tai Wai Station (about 2,900 flats) within the current financial year. In 2012-13, railway property development projects are estimated to provide about 7,000 flats in total.
"Overall speaking, at this stage we estimate that the target of housing land supply from different sources in 2012-13 having the capacity of providing about 20,000 private residential flats could be achieved. The Government will continue to closely monitor the market reaction, and suitably put up more residential sites for sale," Mr Chan said.
A list of the sites to be tendered in the January to March 2013 quarter is attached. LandsD will separately announce the detailed land sale arrangements nearer the time of tender invitation for individual sites.
Ends/Monday, December 24, 2012
Issued at HKT 13:30
NNNN
