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Following is a question by the Hon CHAN Yuen-han and an oral reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (January 18):
Question:
It has been reported that the Housing Authority ("HA") is considering a land exchange proposal under which HA surrenders certain valuable land to the Government in exchange for other land for building public housing. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it will adopt the above proposal; if it will, of the districts in which it plans to provide land to HA; if not, of the reasons for that;
(b) whether it will allow HA to share part of the proceeds from the sale of the land surrendered by HA; and
(c) whether, in considering specific proposals of land exchange, HA will ensure that it has sufficient land to enable completion of a steady number of public housing units each year in the urban areas, extended urban areas and the New Territories respectively; if not, of the justifications for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
Land is an important asset of Hong Kong. The Government should ensure proper and balanced use of land resources having regard to the needs of different sectors of the community. On provision of public housing, the Government provides adequate land for the Housing Authority to build sufficient public housing flats to maintain the average waiting time at around three years.
2. In considering the quantity of land to be provided for public housing development, the Government has taken account of the Housing Authority¡¯s Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme to sustain the public rental housing programme through clearance of old estates and in-situ reprovisioning. In the process, the Housing Authority would seek to adjust population density and enhance the provision of community facilities to improve the living environment. For this reason, the Housing Authority has not made any proposal to surrender cleared public housing sites to the Government in exchange for other sites.
3. My reply to the three-part question is as follows:
(a) No mechanism of land exchange has been established between the Government and the Housing Authority. It is the Housing Authority¡¯s policy to retain public housing sites vacated as a result of the Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme for reprovisioning purpose. This is to ensure that public housing production can meet the demand in a timely manner.
(b) The majority of public housing sites are developed and managed by the Housing Authority under Vesting Order. If these sites are no longer used for public rental housing, they will be returned to the Government for disposal, in which the Housing Authority has no further interests.
(c) As mentioned above, the Housing Authority has not put forward any proposal on land exchange to the Government.
At present, the Housing Authority has about 680 000 public housing flats in different parts of the territory, accounting for about 30% of the total housing stock in Hong Kong. The Government will continue to identify suitable sites in different locations for public housing development, taking into consideration such factors as the timing of site availability, development potential, compatibility with the neighbourhood, net site area and technical feasibility etc. In practice, given the differences in the supply and distribution of sites available for public housing development as well as inevitable variations in the scale and progress of individual construction projects, it is impossible to ensure even distribution of new public housing flats in different districts every year. Nevertheless, the Housing Authority will continue to plan and build public housing flats with a view to maintaining the average waiting time at about three years.
Ends/Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:08
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