Following is a question by the Hon Tony Tse and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today (July 8):
Question:
Under the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131), the Town Planning Board (TPB) may designate a certain site in an Outline Zoning Plan as a comprehensive development area (CDA). The main purpose of designating a CDA is to conduct comprehensive planning and implement systematic development for the area concerned by taking account of environmental, traffic and infrastructure constraints. The proponent of a CDA must submit an application to TPB in the form of a master layout plan and obtain the approval of TPB before proceeding with development. Some practitioners from the surveying profession have relayed to me that at present, due to the fragmented ownerships of quite a number of CDAs, proponents of CDAs must first consolidate the ownerships before they can submit applications for such development projects to TPB. However, the work of consolidating ownerships often takes a very long time, thus slowing down land development and housing supply. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) among those CDA sites which have yet to be developed or the master layout plans for which have yet to be approved, of (i) the year in which the site was zoned as CDA, (ii) the land area, (iii) the proposed plot ratio, and (iv) the permitted gross floor area of each site, with a breakdown by District Council district;
(2) whether the authorities know the reasons why some CDA sites have yet to be developed; whether hindrance in consolidation of ownerships is the main reason; if the authorities do, whether they will consider adjusting the coverage of the relevant CDA sites so as to expedite their development; and
(3) as I have learnt that at present TPB conducts the first review of each CDA site at the end of the third year following its zoning and annual review thereafter, whether TPB will consider rezoning CDA sites when such sites have been left undeveloped for a certain number of years after zoning, so as to enhance their development opportunities; if TPB will not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
In general, having taken into account circumstances of a specific strategic site, the Government will zone the site as "Comprehensive Development Area" ("CDA") with a view to facilitating urban renewal, rearranging land uses, providing new opportunities for development and/or ensuring better planning arrangements through comprehensive planning and integrated development. The Town Planning Board (TPB) will, when proposing to zone a site as "CDA", take into account the planning intention of the site, the situation of the land and its ownership, the likelihood of its implementation and other development constraints, and will also closely monitor the development progress of the site after being zoned "CDA".
Similar to other land use zonings, the Government has been monitoring closely the planning and development situations of "CDA" sites, so as to facilitate their best planned developments. The Government also regularly reviews the "CDA" sites and takes follow-up actions depending on circumstances and needs.
The reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) According to TPB's Guidelines No. 17 "Designation of "CDA" Zones and Monitoring the Progress of "CDA" Developments", TPB will conduct the first review of each "CDA" site at the end of the third year after its designation, and subsequently conduct a review annually. The latest round of review results was submitted to the Planning Committees of TPB for consideration on May 22 this year, and was agreed by the Committees on the same day (Note). The relevant papers have been uploaded to the website of TPB for public access (www.info.gov.hk/tpb/en/papers/MPC/534-mpc_4-15.pdf (available only in English) and www.info.gov.hk/tpb/en/papers/RNTPC/533-rntpc_8-15.pdf (available only in English)).
According to the review results, as of end March 2015, there were in total 121 sites zoned as "CDA" for three years or more across the territory, including 71 sites with approved master layout plans and 50 sites without. The statistics of the concerned "CDA" sites by District Councils are enumerated in the Annex. Details of each "CDA" site (including the number of years designated as "CDA", site area and land ownership) are set out in the above TPB papers.
(2)&(3) Generally, the "CDA" sites currently without approved master layout plans can be at different planning stages. For example, the developers concerned might be assembling packets of the site; carrying out thorough planning studies to assess the potential impacts of the proposed development on traffic, environment and landscape, etc.; preparing the master layout plans, etc. Some other "CDA" sites fall within the areas under various on-going planning studies being undertaken by the Government, and their development will be implemented upon completion of the said studies.
In order to realise the development of the "CDA" sites, TPB will, in response to the changes in land development and planning circumstances, propose to rezone suitable "CDA" sites to other land use zonings, or to subdivide them into smaller sub-zones in the planning process, with a view to expediting the development progress.
More recent rezoning proposals include the amendments to the Cha Kwo Ling, Yau Tong, Lei Yue Mun Approved Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) proposed by TPB December last year, in which the "CDA" site in the Yau Tong industrial area has been subdivided into five smaller "CDA" sub-zones. In May this year, TPB also proposed amendments to the Ma Tau Kok Approved OZP, mainly to rezone a "CDA(3)" site at the intersection of Mok Cheong Street and To Kwa Wan Road to "Residential (Group A)" and "Government, Institution or Community", so as to expedite their development progress.
Note: The review does not include the nine sites designated as "CDA" under the Urban Renewal Authority Ordinance and the former Land Development Corporation Ordinance. The relevant sites have their own development scheme plans and do not fall within the planning scheme area of statutory plans.
Ends/Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:30
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