Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, at the question-and-answer session of the media session today (September 26) on the quarterly land sale programme for October to December 2019:
Reporter: Mr Wong, why did you say that the land donation by the developer would not affect the Government's land creation policy, in particular on land resumption? That's my first question. The second question is, you talked about the Kai Tak site that failed to attract the bid. Do you think the ongoing protest is going to prolong or increase the risk, especially the risk assessed by developers, perhaps deterring them from actually submitting attractive bids to the Government?
Secretary for Development: Maybe your second question first. I think it will be unfair to attribute everything to just one single factor. Of course, what has been happening recently has an impact on the overall economy. It might have an impact on how individual developers assess the market situation. But then, if you look at the details, just this August, also at Kai Tak, as I mentioned in the opening remarks, a site also for commercial and hotel use was successfully tendered. So, I think it will be too simplistic to attribute everything to just one factor. From the Government's point of view, I think we will steadily and continuously put out land for tender to meet the society's social and economic demands.
Your first question. It will not have a major impact. It is a question of proportion. Given the scale and size of land that we will need to come up with in the future, I don't think that any charitable donation by individual developers would actually take up a huge percentage of that demand. Of course, when we look at charitable act of individual developers, if they are prepared to donate land, or rent out land on a long-term basis, on a non-market basis, to NGOs (non-governmental organisations), for various charitable purposes including transitional housing, we will say it's a good thing.
Reporter: Would the donation affect the land resumption policy?
Secretary for Development: I don't think there will be any major impact.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, September 26, 2019
Issued at HKT 18:27
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