Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, at the question-and-answer session of the media session today (June 29) on the quarterly land sale programme for July to September 2015:
Reporter: Are you confident that the Government can meet the target this year? Do you think that the number of plots on sale of this quarter is lower than normal?
Secretary for Development: We are reasonably confident that we will be able to meet the aggregate supply target of about 19,000 units this year in terms of private housing land supply. Although on the surface it may appear that the Government land sale for the coming quarter is a little on the low side, this is indeed not the case. In the coming quarter, the Government will launch the Yuen Long Station railway project. This project alone will produce about 1,880 units. Along with another MTRCL (MTR Corporation Limited) project in LOHAS Park, the total supply from railway projects will exceed 3,200 units. There will also be a project from the Urban Renewal Authority. In order to ensure that the supply of private housing land to the market is sustainable and stable, the overall target is to keep, on average, about 5,000 units every quarter. The remainder of about 1,650 units will be provided by the Government land sale. Having said that, we have also added flexibility in the coming quarter. As I said earlier on, depending on the market situation as well as the progress of our work on rezoning and other preparatory work, we may introduce additional sites, both commercial and residential, for sale during the coming quarter. We believe, given this flexibility, it will enable us to be more responsive to changes in market conditions.
Reporter: Mr Chan, since most units would come from the MTRCL projects, would it be still too optimistic regarding the sale of these pieces of land in the coming land sale programme?
Secretary for Development: This is a rather safe estimate in my view. As I said, there are two railway projects in the coming quarter. If you look at railway projects, and if we might go back to the beginning of last year, the supply from railway projects was not a lot. And over the past year, the total supply from this source was already close to 10,000 units. We are in close liaison with the MTRCL to ensure that their projects will be launched in an orderly manner and that the railway land supply will form an integral part of private residential land supply.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, June 29, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:31
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