Following is a question by the Dr Hon David Li Kwok-po and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (March 11):
Question:
In response to my question at the Council meeting of October 24, 2007, the Government advised that the site adjacent to the Sunny Bay MTR Station, which had earlier been designated for use as an "emergency vehicle holding area" for the Hong Kong Disneyland, had been returned to the Lands Department (LandsD) in February 2007, and that LandsD planned to let the site by short-term tenancies at full market rental. To date, the site remains unused. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the current status of the site;
(b) whether the proposed use of the site mentioned in the said response has encountered any opposition and, if so, of the nature of the objections; and
(c) of the timetable for achieving market rental for the site?
Reply:
President,
The site in question remains a vacant government site available for short term uses upon temporary allocation to government departments or upon application by other parties. The proposal mentioned in my reply to the LegCo Question on October 24, 2007 was one such application for a short term tenancy of the site. However, this application was subsequently rejected on July 8, 2008 due to various reasons on the part of the applicant.
Since then, the Lands Department (LandsD) has received requests from government department and applications from other parties for temporary use of the site. While government department has proceeded with its temporary use, none of the other applicants took their applications to fruition.
For better utilisation of the site, LandsD in consultation with relevant departments has been considering other possible options to put the site to temporary use. It remains LandsD's intention to tender the site for short term use at full market rental. LandsD plans to put the proposal to the District Lands Conference in the next quarter.
Ends/Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:01
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