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A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau issued the following statement in response to media enquiries about a news report today (June 25) on public housing supply in the coming decade:
As a general practice, we do not comment on so-called confidential documents. Regarding the supply of public housing, we have made known to the public regularly the progress of the identification of land supply for the construction of public housing in a transparent manner. The figure of about 250 000 units as mentioned in the news report had already been publicised when the Long Term Housing Strategy (LTHS) was released in December 2014. At that juncture, we also published a "Long Term Housing Strategy Implementation Milestones as at December 2014" in which we stated that "assuming that all sites identified can be delivered on time for housing construction", "as of now, in terms of land supply, the Government has identified land for the construction of 254,000 public housing units for the period from 2015-16 to 2024-25." We will continue to report to the public the latest implementation progress every year.
Indeed, the figure of 254,000 public housing units was merely an estimation based on the situation at that time. While we will continue to strive hard to search for more land and to launch public housing projects on the one hand, we do encounter on the other hand various challenges when carrying out public housing projects. For example, some sites which have not been properly zoned require local consultation, resumption and clearance while others encountering difficult or complex site conditions require a longer time for foundation works. Under certain circumstances, not all of our original plans could be fully realised. For example, the recent judicial review case of the Kwai Chung outline zoning plan has delayed our projects in Tai Wo Hau Road Phases 1 and 2 involving around 800 flats, leaving the Hong Kong Housing Authority with no choice but to cancel the foundation tender which the Department awarded in March 2015.
We will closely monitor the latest progress of our projects and will strive to reach the targets. In addition, as stated in the LTHS, we will review and update the demand projection annually and roll over a new 10-year supply target.
Ends/Thursday, June 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:54
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