In recent years, the Government has been committed to the development of the Northern Metro Area, which requires the resumption of some brownfield sites and private land for planning and development purposes in order to substantially increase the supply of residential flats. From now to 2026, the Government expects to resume and clear a further 200 hectares of brownfield sites.
According to the Development Bureau, the Government has resumed and cleared about 30 hectares of brownfield sites in the past few years, involving about 400 affected operators. In resuming brownfield sites, the biggest problem to be faced is definitely how to rehouse the operators on the brownfield sites. This time around, another 200 hectares of brownfield sites will be resumed, which is a very large amount, so the Government must have comprehensive planning.
In order to speed up the development progress, the Development Bureau is thinking of inviting tenders through the "ground flower" mode, in which the unformed land will be put up for tender to expedite the development of multi-storey industrial buildings, so that interested investors can enter the market earlier, and it is expected that the "ground flower period" can last for one to two years.
It is expected that the "site formation period" can be up to one to two years. When the authorities carry out land formation, they will simultaneously push forward the preliminary work such as plan design and financing, so that the construction works can commence immediately after the completion of land formation, thus achieving the effect of speeding up the development process.
I have heard a lot about the new property development plan and it is often oversubscribed, so is the "ground plan" feasible? In fact, the feasibility of the scheme is based on the developer's intention to invest in land. In this regard, the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong (REDA) has pointed out that when a site is put up for tender before it has been formed, it will be difficult for developers to grasp the actual condition of the site and calculate the cost, which may affect their incentive to bid for the site.
In the worst case scenario, if the scheme is unsuccessful, when no one is interested in the land, the developer can wait for the land to be formed and then put it on the market, which is similar to the case of uncompleted flats waiting for the sale of the existing flats, but there is no effect of speeding up the process, and it is a waste of the manpower and resources required for the tendering process.
Moreover, if the Government decides to adopt this mode of tendering, more details will have to be worked out, such as whether compensation has to be offered to developers for failure to hand over the land on time when there is a delay in land disposal; and how the rate of discount has to be determined because the land cannot be used immediately, and so on, and all these will affect the decision of the developers.
Some people have raised an issue which is all worth discussing. Not all operators of brownfield sites can move into multi-storey industrial buildings, for example, some operators have large machines which are difficult to move into the industrial buildings, how is the Government going to deal with this? Some Members suggested using greenfield sites as a buffer measure for rehousing brownfield operators affected by development.
The main functions of greenfield sites are to conserve the natural environment, beautify the cityscape and improve the landscape. Green belts have a buffer effect and can protect the core ecological zone of the Kau Yuk Park, which should not be developed rashly. If they are used for rehousing purposes, it is inevitable that there will be a lot of opposition, so the Government must weigh and handle the matter carefully.
Land supply and housing issues are the most serious problems in Hong Kong. Moreover, the various housing problems faced by us have existed for some time, and it takes time to rectify and solve them as they are not just a matter of one day. Since the new Government took office, it has come up with new ideas and proposals from time to time. Though we have not seen any results for the time being, it is always better to have new proposals than to be stuck in the same old rut.
