Early last week, I announced details of the quarterly land sale programme (LSP) for the second quarter of 2015-16. Private housing land supply, which comes from government land sales, railway property development projects and a project of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), is estimated to have a capacity to produce about 5 100 flats in total. Together with the sites released in the first quarter, the private housing land supply in the first half of 2015-16 has the capacity to provide around 9 600 flats. It is worth mentioning that while this figure has yet to include the supply from private development or redevelopment projects during the period, it has already reached half of this financial year’s private housing land supply target. In addition, the aggregate private housing land supply in 2014-15 had an estimated capacity to produce about 21 200 flats, exceeding the target of 18 800 flats set for 2014-15 by about 13 per cent (or 2 400 extra flats). The aggregate private housing land supply for 2013-14 and 2014-15, estimated to have the capacity to provide about 39 000 flats, also met the combined target of providing 38 800 flats in these two years.

As mentioned in My Blog previously, we are actively rezoning suitable sites for housing development in the short to medium term to address the urgent problem of housing land shortage. At the same time, we are expediting the implementation of various new development area projects to make available housing land as soon as possible. The Hung Shui Kiu (HSK) New Development Area (NDA), the Stage 3 Community Engagement of which has just commenced, is an example of these medium to long-term NDA projects. It will be the next-generation new town for Hong Kong, providing more space for living, employment and development......

To preserve our precious historic buildings, apart from preserving their structures, we also need to revitalise them for public visits and enjoyment, so as to give these historic buildings new and added social value. Last week, we announced the selection results for batch IV of the Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme. We have found suitable partners to revitalise three historic buildings, namely No. 12 School Street in Tai Hang, the Old Dairy Farm Senior Staff Quarters in Pok Fu Lam, and the Lady Ho Tung Welfare Centre in Sheung Shui. The revitalisation proposals put forward by the selected organisations were highly creative and meaningful, and they comprise incorporating precious intangible cultural heritage into a historic building, redefining the cultural connection between a historic building and local culture, and making use of a rural environment near a historic building to enhance the general public’s understanding of natural ecology......

To increase the supply of housing land is the fundamental solution to solving the pressing housing problem of the Hong Kong community, and the effort should be made immediately without delay. To address such urgent needs, we are rezoning suitable sites to provide more housing land as soon as possible. At the same time, we are fully aware of the enormous challenges we face in our rezoning work. As such, we have to be well prepared in advance to allay public concern, so as to foster better understanding and solicit public support......

The construction of infrastructure in Hong Kong has reached a peak in recent years, with a number of major infrastructure works in progress. With such a high demand for construction workforce, most workers have enjoyed a considerable increase in their wages, which, I believe, is good for them. However, it is not uncommon that workers do not get paid on time or rewarded for their hard work at all. To address the problem, we propose to introduce the Security of Payment Legislation (SOPL) for the industry to regulate the payment practices for works contracts through legislation, and to establish an adjudication mechanism to facilitate dispute resolution relating to works payment, in order to ensure that workers receive wages they deserve as soon as possible......