DEVB - SDEV Press Releases: First Land... (11010)

The Development Bureau (DEVB) today (July 22) announced the receipt of the first application under the Land Sharing Pilot Scheme (LSPS).

The application site, covering about 3.2 hectares involving two private lots and adjoining government land, is located at Lo Fai Road and Ting Kok Road, Tai Po. The land involved is currently zoned "Green Belt" and "Road". The application involves about 1 149 public housing/Starter Homes (SH) (exact choice of subsidised housing type to be determined by the Government) and 493 private housing flats with supporting facilities, with a total gross floor area of about 85 000 square metres. The applicant is Kam Luk Investment Limited. Its parent company is Nan Fung Development Limited.

The application will be processed by the Land Sharing Office (LSO) under the DEVB in consultation with the relevant departments, in accordance with the established guidelines. The application, together with comments of relevant government bureaux and departments will be considered by the Panel of Advisors tentatively within three months. Meanwhile, the applicant may have to revise its proposal or provide further information to address the requirements from departments.

The Panel of Advisors, consisting of non-official members, was set up to offer third-party and impartial views on applications. Apart from the planning aspect, it will also scrutinise the cost effectiveness of the proposal for safeguarding public interest.

Upon receiving the support of the Panel of Advisors, the proposal will be put to the Chief Executive in Council for agreement in principle which is required for kickstarting the necessary statutory and administration procedures (such as rezoning, land exchange, etc).

The LSO will act as a one-stop shop in coordinating with the departments concerned to facilitate and expedite the processing and vetting of applications.

Under the LSPS, the Government will facilitate necessary infrastructural upgrading to enhance the development intensity of a site, while no less than 70 per cent of the increased domestic gross floor area will be set aside for public housing/SH development.

The Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, said he looked forward to more applications under the LSPS, one of the land supply options worthy of priority studies and implementation recommended by the Task Force on Land Supply. The LSPS is an open and transparent Public-private Partnership Scheme to increase public and private housing supply.

"The LSO has been in dialogue with a number of other interested project proponents in facilitating their submissions of applications," he added.

Key information and proposed development parameters of the submitted application have been uploaded to the LSPS webpage at (www.devb.gov.hk/en/issues_in_focus/land_sharing_pilot_scheme/land_sharing_pilot_scheme_applications/application_received/index.html ) with its latest progress for public reference.

First Land Sharing Pilot Scheme application received