Regarding the proposal put forward by the Professional Commons and Civic Party to use five residential sites in the 2012-13 List of Sites for Sale by Application (also known as "Application List") for constructing public rental housing, Home Ownership Scheme and Sandwich Class Housing Scheme flats, the Development Bureau's response today (January 24) is as follows:
"The Development Bureau (DEVB) has no plan to use the five sites for subsidised housing.
The Government is committed to increasing land supply to meet the need of the community for housing and other developments. The Government seeks to ensure that there will be adequate land to meet the subsidised housing production targets. At the same time, the Government also has a responsibility to cater for the public's demand for private residential units by supplying land for private housing development.
At present, the Government already has an established mechanism for allocating land for construction of subsidised housing as well as private housing. DEVB and the Planning Department have been working closely with the Transport and Housing Bureau and the Housing Department to provide the Housing Authority with land to build subsidised housing. The Government also maintains a certain number of sites in the Land Sale Programme in order to provide a steady supply of sites through land sale for private residential development in the market.
The Government reviews the situation from time to time to determine the most appropriate use of sites. Where appropriate, sites originally planned for private housing will be re-allocated for developing subsidised housing."
Ends/Thursday, January 24, 2013
Issued at HKT 20:12
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