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Policy Address

93. Meanwhile, we will speed up land supply by implementing the following measures:

  1. conducting a further review of the “Green Belt” zone: of the 210 sites being rezoned progressively, about 30% involve the “Green Belt” zone which however account for only 2% of Hong Kong’s 16 000-hectare of land zoned “Green Belt”. Given the lower ecological value of many sites zoned “Green Belt” as compared with the country parks, the development potential of these “Green Belt” sites could be further reviewed. The Planning Department will conduct a new round of systematic review on the “Green Belt” zone with emphasis on sites on steeper slopes as well as those located farther away from built-up areas. It is anticipated that the screening work will be completed in the middle of next year and technical studies will commence thereafter. As regards the development of wetlands and wetland buffer areas, it will be dealt with under the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy;
  2. unlocking Tso/Tong lands in the New Territories: despite the absence of official statistics, there is a considerable number of Tso/Tong lands in the New Territories that can be used for development. During the Policy Address consultation sessions, I received quite some views suggesting that the Government should relax the sale restrictions of Tso/Tong lands through amendment to the New Territories Ordinance, and provide a reasonable mechanism for addressing issues arising from vacancies of Tso/Tong managers. I agree that to pragmatically break the current impasse in developing Tso/Tong lands, we may consider amending the New Territories Ordinance on the premise that the Tso/Tong tradition should be respected and the legitimate interests of Tso/Tong members be protected. To this end, the Secretary for Home Affairs will set up a working group with the Heung Yee Kuk New Territories to conduct a review and work out specific amendment proposals within a year in collaboration with the DEVB and other relevant departments;
  3. extending the standardisation of land premium assessment to the land in the New Territories: with the positive response of the market and the sector to the pilot scheme for charging land premium at “standard rates” for redevelopment of industrial buildings, four redevelopment projects have accepted the premium assessment based on “standard rates” so far. The DEVB will extend the approach of using “standard rates” for premium assessment to in-situ land exchange applications in NDAs under the “Enhanced Conventional New Town Approach”. The DEVB and the Lands Department will work out the details of the scheme, which is targeted for launch in the first quarter of next year; and
  4. extending the implementation period of two existing measures for revitalising industrial buildings to October 2024, which include relaxing the plot ratio for redevelopment of old industrial buildings and exempting the waiver fees chargeable for wholesale conversion. As for the Land Sharing Pilot Scheme, we encourage interested parties to submit their applications as early as possible before the deadline in May 2023.

 

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