The Lands Department announced today that it has rejected a tender received for the sale of a residential site at Yau Kom Tau in Tsuen Wan as the tendered premium did not meet the Government’s reserve price for the site.

The site is earmarked for development under the Government’s Starter Homes (SH) project.

The department said sites in the Land Sale Programme are disposed of on the open market. It added that the Government will not sell a site if no bid reaches the reserve price as assessed by its professional valuers. The reserve price is set on the day of tender closure so that the latest market conditions are taken into account.

The department explained that bids are influenced by many factors, including how parties submitting tenders assess market conditions and the attractiveness of specific sites. However, it added that the Government does not speculate on the considerations behind individual bids.

The Housing Bureau said the Government will continue to enrich the housing market by catering to the needs of different types of homebuyers. It stressed that despite cancelling the tender, the Government considers the site suitable for an SH project, adding that it will invite the Housing Society to take up the project and develop SH units at the site.

The tender closed on August 18. A subsidiary of Grand Ming Group Holdings was the only tenderer.

Allocated for private residential purposes, Tsuen Wan Town Lot No. 430 has a site area of about 48,673 square metres, and a minimum and maximum gross floor area of 82,620 sq m and 97,200 sq m, respectively. These figures exclude the gross floor area for a day activity centre and hostel for severely mentally handicapped people, which are to be constructed by the purchaser under the Conditions of Sale.

At least 1,940 residential units, all of them SH units, are to be built within the site.