*******************************************************
The Government announced today (September 27) that it will sell by tender eight residential sites and one business site in the third quarter of this financial year (i.e. October to December 2013), which are capable of producing about 3,300 flats and providing about 62,000 square metres of commercial floor area.
Among the eight residential sites to be put up for sale by the Government in the next quarter, four are located in Tuen Mun, three are in Kai Tak and one is in Fo Tan.
The Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, said that to better ensure the quantity of flat supply, the Government will require developers to provide a specified minimum number of flats at five sites in Tuen Mun (two sites) and Kai Tak (three sites). The Lands Department (LandsD) will announce the details before the sites are tendered.
In addition to the residential sites, a business site in Kwun Tong will be tendered in the same quarter. The disposal of the Kwun Tong site will help speed up the transformation of Kowloon East into another core business district.
"We will continue to proactively increase land supply to meet the market demand. In the first and second quarters of 2013-14 (i.e. April to September 2013), the Government announced the sale of seven and nine residential sites respectively, capable of producing about 4,900 flats. In addition, the West Rail property development project at Long Ping Station (South), which can provide about 720 flats, was tendered out in June 2013. Together with the eight residential sites to be sold in the third quarter (i.e. October to December 2013), the residential sites provided by the Government and the railway property development project in the first three quarters are capable of producing about 8,900 flats in total," Mr Chan said.
Mr Chan pointed out that other than the land sale programme, the Government and the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) are revising the scheme of the West Rail property development project at Yuen Long Station, which is planned for tendering in 2013-14 and could provide about 1,880 flats. In addition, MTRCL indicated in August 2013 that it planned to re-tender its own property development projects at Tai Wai Station and Tin Shui Wai Light Rail Terminus and tender the LOHAS Park Package 4 project within this financial year which could provide about 2,900, 1,500 and 1,600 flats respectively, subject to market conditions.
"The Government will continue to closely monitor the market situation and steadily supply housing land to the market," Mr Chan said.
The list of the sites to be tendered in October to December 2013 is attached. LandsD will separately announce the detailed land sale arrangements before individual sites are tendered.
Ends/Friday, September 27, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:25
NNNN