****************************************************

The Government today (January 9) announced the application list for the sale of Government land from January 2004 to March 2005.

"The Government announced on November 13, 2002 a housing policy to help revive the property market," the Director of Lands, Mr Patrick Lau, told a media briefing. "The policy measures included stopping all scheduled land auctions and the suspension of the application list until end-2003. Thereafter, the supply of new land would only be triggered from the application list.

"In October 2003, Government released a statement on the implementation and consolidation of housing policy. This included the decision to resume the application list system in January 2004."

The new application list consists of 17 sites, comprising 14 residential sites and three commercial/business sites. The residential sites have a total area of about 10.5 hectares. Six of the sites are located on Hong Kong Island, five in Kowloon and three in the New Territories.

The three commercial/business sites, with a total area of about 2.6 hectares, are located in Kowloon Bay, Tsuen Wan and Tin Shui Wai. These sites may also be developed for hotel use.

"The 2004/05 application list comprises sites of different sizes and uses. To provide variety, the list contains five residential sites suitable for the upper-end market. The list has a good mix of sites with nine out of the 14 residential sites having an area of less than one hectare. This should meet the needs of different developers, including the small and medium ones," Mr Lau said.

"The list is modest in terms of flat supply. The 14 residential sites, if all sold, will produce some 7,800 flats. The earliest estimated completion date for these flats is 2007. This will not overload the market and will enable the market to grow in a healthy manner," he continued.

Under the application list system, developers interested in any of the sites on the list may submit an application to Government for consideration. The applicant must offer a minimum price to purchase the site. If Government considers the price acceptable, the applicant will be required to enter a formal agreement and pay the required deposit, whereupon the site will be put up for sale by open tender or auction.

"The application list system is market-driven. It enables the market to determine flexibly the quantity and timing of land to be put up for sale. Sites successfully triggered for sale will be sold through auction or tender. In this respect, the Government will realize optimum proceeds through competitive bidding which will reflect the open market value of the sites," Mr Lau added.

The 2004/05 application list can be downloaded from the Lands Department's web site http://www.info.gov.hk/landsd.

Ends/Friday, January 9, 2004

NNNN

• List of Sites for Sale by Application (pdf format)

( Floor / Cantonese / English )