Land creation bearing fruit: CE

November 25, 2020

Voiceover:
The Government has made bold decisions to develop land for housing construction and economic development, bringing positive results in recent years.

Unveiling her 2020 Policy Address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said increasing land supply has been a top priority of the current-term Government.

She noted transport infrastructure helps unleash the development potential of land, and the Government will speed up the implementation of the Northern Link railway project.

The Government has so far identified housing sites with a total area of about 90 hectares - equal to the size of four Taikoo Shings - along the Northern Link. It is anticipated that over 70,000 flats can be provided on these sites.
 
As for the Mass Transit Railway Siu Ho Wan Depot site, it is expected to provide about 20,000 residential units in the medium to long term, of which around 50% will be subsidised sale flats. 

Mrs Lam said the resumption of three urban squatter areas at Cha Kwo Ling, Ngau Chi Wan and Chuk Yuen United Village for redevelopment into high-density public housing is being studied. These three projects are expected to offer a total of 6,300 public housing units.

In the medium to long term, the Chief Executive said the Lantau Tomorrow Vision is the largest in scale and could provide the greatest amount of land.

She emphasised that for the sake of Hong Kong’s future, the current-term Government will not give up on the Lantau Tomorrow Vision and will strive for the early commencement of the relevant studies, adding that the Government will continue to listen to the views of various sectors of the community and proactively explore new financing options for the project in the course of the studies.

To facilitate the processing of planning, lease modification and other development approval applications for larger-scale private residential sites, the Development Bureau will set up ta dedicated team and expand the composition and remit of the Steering Group on Streamlining Development Control.

Mrs Lam said she will personally steer the internal co-ordination to increase land supply to ensure that all the bureaus and departments concerned will take increasing and expediting housing supply as the foremost and priority objective.

(To watch the 2020 Policy Address speech with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government has made bold decisions to develop land for housing construction and economic development, bringing positive results in recent years.

Unveiling her 2020 Policy Address, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said increasing land supply has been a top priority of the current-term Government.

She noted transport infrastructure helps unleash the development potential of land, and the Government will speed up the implementation of the Northern Link railway project.

So far, the Government has identified housing sites with a total area of about 90 hectares - equal to the size of four Taikoo Shings - along the Northern Link. It is anticipated that over 70,000 flats can be provided.

As for the Mass Transit Railway Siu Ho Wan Depot site, it may provide about 20,000 residential units in the medium to long term, of which around 50% will be subsidised sale flats.

Mrs Lam said the resumption of three urban squatter areas at Cha Kwo Ling, Ngau Chi Wan and Chuk Yuen United Village for redevelopment into high-density public housing is being studied. These three projects are expected to offer a total of 6,300 public housing units.

Lantau plan to bring enormous benefits

In the medium to long term, the Chief Executive said the Lantau Tomorrow Vision is the largest in scale and could provide the greatest amount of land.

She said the concept of reclamation in East Lantau has been explored and discussed by the community for almost a decade and should not be subject to further delay.

“If we all act in an objective and fair manner with the long-term interests of Hong Kong in mind, we will understand that reclamation for developing artificial islands in the Central Waters under the Lantau Tomorrow Vision has a number of advantages.

“In terms of financing, the project is practicable and will bring enormous economic benefits to Hong Kong.”

Although the Government has already secured support from the Legislative Council Public Works Subcommittee for the study last May, funding approval has yet to be obtained.

“For the sake of Hong Kong’s future, the current-term Government will not give up on the Lantau Tomorrow Vision and will strive for the early commencement of the relevant studies. I pledge that the Government will continue to listen to the views of various sectors of the community and proactively explore new financing options for the project in the course of the studies,” she added.