Over the past year, increasing land supply and creating a quality and sustainable living environment for the community have been the two main areas of work of the Development Bureau. In recent years, there has been tight supply of housing and commercial facilities. The core of this problem is the shortage of land supply, particularly owing to years of stagnation in land development and supply. To address people’s great aspirations for moving into public housing flats and buying their own homes, we have to work hard to search for land and increase supply.
Although land searching is a challenging task, our colleagues have never shrunk back or slackened, and they have tried their best. Regarding the short-, medium- and long-term measures to increase housing and land supply proposed in the Policy Address and on previous occasions, we have already taken them forward in a holistic manner so as to achieve our policy objectives.
Short-term and Medium-term Land Supply
Progress achieved includes:
(1) Regarding the review of various land zonings and identification of suitable land for conversion to residential use, of the 36 “Government, Institution and Community” sites and other government sites with a total area of 27 hectares, 16 have been zoned or are going through town planning procedures for rezoning for residential use, while the rezoning of the remaining 20 sites is being prepared and the relevant District Councils are being consulted on five of them. Regarding the 13 devegetated, deserted or formed Green Belt sites with a total area of 57 hectares, the rezoning of one of the sites was gazetted several months ago. The rezoning procedures for nine of them will be completed by the end of next year, and the rezoning of the remaining three sites will be completed afterwards. Amongst the 16 industrial sites measuring 30 hectares in total, 13 have completed or are undergoing the rezoning process, while the rezoning of the remaining three privately owned industrial sites will be commenced at a later stage. The review of other sites is also in progress, including review of vacant sites or government sites leased out on short-term tenancies, second stage review of Green Belt sites, and the next round of review of industrial sites. Through such reviews, we have identified a batch of sites suitable for converting to residential use throughout the territory. Five of these have already been included in the Land Sale Programme of this year while the remaining sites are still under review, and once these sites are confirmed to be suitable for converting to residential use, we will proceed with the town planning and other related procedures and allocate the sites for public housing or private residential uses. For those sites where the original intended use is not required anymore, we will start to review and convert the land for housing development or other uses that meet the more pressing needs in the community as soon as possible.
(2) Property developments along railway lines have always been an important source of land supply. The recently tendered West Rail property development project at Long Ping Station (South), for example, can provide about 720 flats to the market. We are also revising the scheme of the West Rail property development project at Yuen Long Station with the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), with an aim to tender the project in 2013-14, which can provide about 1 880 flats. The MTRCL had indicated earlier its wish to re-tender the property development projects at Tai Wai Station and Tin Shui Wai Light Rail Terminus, which can provide 2 900 and 1 500 flats respectively, over the next 12 months, subject to market situations. We are now carrying out planning for the approximately 33-hectare site at Kam Tin South West Rail Kam Sheung Road Station and Pat Heung Maintenance Depot for residential development, and some 110 hectares of adjoining areas are also under planning. At the same time, four sites located at squatter or ex-quarry areas with a total area of about 27 hectares are being converted to residential use. The Wong Tai Sin and Kwun Tong District Councils have been consulted on the plan for the former Diamond Hill Squatter Areas (Tai Hom Village) and the former Cha Kwo Ling Kaolin Mine. Stage 1 community engagement for the plan for the former Lamma Quarry has been completed. The final development plan for Anderson Road Quarry has been announced early this year, and the Planning Department will amend the relevant Outline Zoning Plan later. The site is expected to be able to be disposed of for development by 2019-20. Meanwhile, the Urban Renewal Authority will gradually launch a number of urban renewal projects for housing development.
(3) As far as allowable in planning terms with the support of infrastructure, we will progressively increase the development density of residential sites on an appropriate scale, just as the development density of the residential sites at Tseung Kwan O South was increased on an appropriate scale previously.
(4) We are making preparations to relax or lift the administrative moratorium in Pok Fu Lam and the Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island in order to release the development potential of these two areas.
(5) We have reallocated resources to expedite the processing of pre-sale consent applications. Over the last 10 months, 17 pre-sale consent applications have been approved involving about 9 400 residential flats in total, while 12 applications involving 7 400 flats were approved during the preceding 10-month period.
Long-term Land Supply
We have launched the Community Engagement Stage 1 of the “Planning and Engineering Study for Housing Sites in Yuen Long South – Investigation” and the “Tung Chung New Town Extension Study” Stage 2 Public Engagement. The planning and engineering study for New Territories North is also being prepared, and the revised proposals for the North East New Territories New Development Areas and the Stage 2 Public Engagement of the Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area are ready and will both be announced next month. Moreover, to respond more flexibly to society’s needs for different types of land, the fundamental solution is to build up an abundant land reserve. The Stage 2 Public Engagement exercise for near-shore reclamation sites, artificial islands in Central Waters and relocation of three government facilities into rock caverns has just been completed, and we are preparing to move to the next stage.
Resume the Lead in Putting Up Sites for Sale
In order to fully address public concern and misunderstanding, we decided early this year to abolish the Application List system from 2013-14 in order to resume the lead in putting up sites for sale. Except for the three adjoining residential sites at Shek Mun in the latest quarterly Land Sale Programme which have been converted for public housing development, the remaining residential sites for private development in the Land Sale Programme together with the six additional residential sites which have been included in the Land Sale Programme recently, including some sites which are under preparation or going through the procedures for rezoning, will all be put onto the market for sale.
"Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People"
The “Hong Kong Property for Hong Kong People” policy has demonstrated the governance principle that Hong Kong citizens should be given priority in the use of our scarce land resources. The tendering of the two residential sites at the Kai Tak Development which were designated as pilot projects under the policy was well received, and the sites were sold successfully.
Upgrading the Construction Industry
In addition to the increase of land supply, infrastructure is essential to support housing and commercial and community facilities. Capital works expenditure is expected to reach $70 billion in 2013-14, and public works projects are moving into a peak construction period. We attach great importance to construction safety, and over the years we have adopted multi-pronged measures to improve and enhance site safety management, such as the introduction of the Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme and the Pay for Safety Scheme, etc. To enhance the cash flow of the construction industry and its business environment, we are also preparing for the legislation of security of payment for the industry and the bill is expected to be tabled in the Legislative Council in 2015-16. Furthermore, as we are concerned about the manpower supply of the industry, we have increased the allowance and support of training through the Construction Industry Council and the Vocational Training Council, and have worked hard to improve the site operating environment and working conditions as well as boost the image of the construction industry so as to attract more young people to join the industry.
Building Safety
The safety of our city is very important. We have proposed the Signboard Control System to the Legislative Council and deliberations have been completed. The safety control of the existing unauthorised signboards will be enhanced once the legislation is passed. The Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme and the Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme launched in the middle of last year have tackled the problem of building neglect in Hong Kong at source. Moreover, registrations made under the Reporting Scheme for Unauthorised Building Works in New Territories have been completed and we are now handling such reports.
Lift and Escalator Safety
The Lifts and Escalators Ordinance, which took effect at the end of last year, has enhanced the safety regulation of lifts and escalators. There is always room for improvement for safety management, however. We have set up the Lift and Escalator Safety Advisory Committee to review the existing regulatory system and to make further improvement.
Flood Prevention
To address extreme weather and unpredictable rainstorms as well as to keep in line with the future development of Hong Kong, we have commenced in phases the review of the Drainage Master Plans of different districts. From August last year to March this year, the 11-kilometre-long Western Island Drainage Tunnel which extends from Tai Hang to Cyberport and is the longest and widest in diameter in Hong Kong, the 5.1km-long Tsuen Wan Drainage Tunnel which is built along the upland areas of Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung, and the 3.7km-long Lai Chi Kok Drainage Tunnel which passes through Lai Chi Kok, Cheung Sha Wan and Sham Shui Po have all come into operation to reduce the amount of rainwater flowing into the existing drainage systems in urban areas, with a view to enhancing the flood prevention capacity of the above areas.
Total Water Management
To achieve the objective set in the Total Water Management Strategy of reducing domestic water consumption in 2030 by 100 million cubic metres, we set up a temporary Water Resources Education Centre at the Water Supplies Department’s Mong Kok office in March this year to step up education for the younger generation on water conservation. The “Let’s Save 10L Water” Campaign, which aims to encourage the public to reduce daily water consumption by at least 10 litres per capita per day in the medium term, will be launched next year. Furthermore, we started a two-year planning and investigation study on a seawater desalination plant at the end of last year, which will investigate in detail the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of setting up a seawater desalination plant at Tseung Kwan O and the associated fresh water transfer facilities.
Heritage Conservation
To achieve sustainable urban development and an ideal living environment, heritage conservation and greening works with emphasis on both quality and quantity are both very important. After announcing the review of the policy of heritage conservation at the end of last year, we have invited the Antiquities Advisory Board to assist in the review and a consultation paper is expected to be announced within this year. We are also preparing for batch IV of the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme.
Greening and Tree Management
We strive to provide vegetation and manage and preserve trees and plants properly. We launched the “Be Our Greening Partner” Campaign in May this year and a series of public education and community engagement activities will follow with an aim of engaging all members of public and organisations in contributing to a green environment. Regarding the tree risk assessment and management work carried out from the end of last year to the middle of this year, a number of departments have completed about 30 000 tree inspection forms and carried out risk mitigation measures.
Time flies and a year has gone. There is no room for being slack in our work. In future, we have to expedite our work pace and continue to do our best to serve the community.
30 June, 2013
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