The Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, and the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, will meet with two members-elect of the Legislative Council, Mr Eddie Chu and Professor Yiu Chung-yim, to exchange views on the development of Wang Chau, Yuen Long, at 10am this Thursday (September 15) at Central Government Offices, Tamar, Admiralty, Hong Kong.
      
     A Government spokesman said today (September 13) that the Government has entrusted the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) in 2012 to carry out a planning and engineering feasibility study on the development of Wang Chau. Results of the study indicated that it is technically feasible to use the site for the development of about 17 000 public housing flats and the Yuen Long Industrial Estate extension (YLIE). This will not cause unacceptable adverse impacts on the area. Having considered the overall development priority, the Government decided first to proceed with the first phase of the development at the southern portion of the site to provide about 4, 000 public housing flats. Subject to the progress of various associated works, the Government will take forward the second and third phases of the development according to priority. As pointed out by the Chief Executive today, constructing about 17 000 public housing flats through the three phases of development remains to be the Government's work plan.
      
      In a paper submitted to the Legislative Council's Development Panel in March this year (ref: CB(1)707/15-16(01)), the Development Bureau and the Housing and Transport Bureau gave details about the development at Wang Chau, with Paragraph 12 stating:
      
      "The remaining of the Wang Chau site, including the 'Open Storage' and 'Green Belt' zones in the northern part, is planned for public housing development and YLIE extension according to the findings of the feasibility study. Subject to the progress of associated works/studies, including the formulation of policies and measures for clearing brownfield sites, the Government will take steps to implement the remaining development of the Wang Chau site according to priority. For the brownfield matters, the Government has established an interbureaux/departments task force on brownfield operations in 2014, exploring effective policies and practicable measures to handle brownfield operations, including study on means of more efficient land utilisation to accommodate brownfield operations that are still needed in Hong Kong. The Government will use Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area as a pilot case, including studying practicable measures to accommodate some brownfield operations in suitable multistory compounds."
      
     As regards recent enquiries on whether the above-mentioned study can be made public, the spokesman said that, as a general principle, the Government will not release sensitive information about land matters in view of public interest. However, the Government understands the concern of the community on this subject and will extract sections of the study to illustrate specifically the actual associated demands, conditions, difficulties, complexity, etc., in the full implementation of the first, second and third phases of the development. These sections will be made available for public inspection when ready.

Ends/Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Issued at HKT 21:21

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