Policy Address

Short and Medium Term Land Supply

76.       In the past two years, the Development Bureau and relevant departments have stepped up their efforts to increase land supply and build up a land reserve by adopting a multi-pronged strategy and various short, medium and long-term measures.  This will help meet the public's housing and other needs.  We are pressing ahead with all the initiatives and the progress is as follows.

77.       We have been carrying out land use reviews on an on-going basis.  Such reviews include examination of government sites which are vacant, held under short-term tenancy and for other short-term or government uses; Government, Institution or Community (GIC) sites; and the two stages of the Green Belt review.  I announced in my last Policy Address that some 150 sites had been identified.  We estimate that a considerable number of these sites will be available for residential use between 2014-15 and 2018-19 and are capable of providing over 210 000 residential units, of which over 70% will be public housing units.  This will only be possible if we can successfully complete the town planning procedures for rezoning and/or increasing development intensity, and press ahead with all the necessary works.  Relevant District Councils (DCs) have been consulted on the overall planning of these sites.  As at end-December 2014, amendments to the statutory plans of 45 sites had started.  Moreover, a few sizable sites which were not required for the intended uses have been converted for housing development or other uses that meet more pressing needs, with a view to achieving our housing target of 480 000 public and private residential units in the next decade.

78.       To optimise land use, we will increase as appropriate development intensity.  Since the inauguration of the current-term Government, the Town Planning Board has approved applications to relax the development intensity of 26 housing sites, leading to an additional supply of about 3 500 units.  To tie in with the transformation of Kowloon East, we are reviewing the planning for the Kai Tak Development Area and the technical studies on the development intensity.  It is anticipated that the Kai Tak Development Area will provide no fewer than 6 800 additional units (including about 1 000 units already approved) and not fewer than 430 000 square metres of additional commercial floor area.

79.       The development of the former Diamond Hill Squatter Areas (Tai Hom Village), the former Cha Kwo Ling Kaolin Mine and former Lamma Quarry are making good progress.  These three development projects are expected to provide over 8 000 public and private residential units.  The housing site in the Anderson Road Quarry will be made available for development as early as 2019-20 to provide over 9 000 public and private residential units.  In addition, the Government will commence the initial study on the land use of the Lam Tei Quarry and its adjoining area in 2015.

80.       The Government is also actively considering making use of private developers’ capacity to expedite the relevant developments.  We believe that private sector participation will help facilitate the development of tourism and commercial facilities.

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