LAND SUPPLY EXPANSION PLEDGED

(To watch the 2022-23 Budget speech with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Financial Secretary Paul Chan says the Government has identified some 350 hectares of land for the provision of about 330,000 public housing units to meet the demand for about 301,000 public housing units in the coming 10 years.

In delivering his 2022-23 Budget, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the Government had identified some 350 hectares of land for the provision of about 330,000 public housing units to meet the demand for about 301,000 public housing units in the coming 10 years. Of these 330,000 units, about one‑third are scheduled for completion in the first five‑year period with the remaining in the second five‑year period.

On private housing, it is estimated that the completion of private residential units will average over 19,000 units annually in the five years from 2022 onward, representing an increase of about 14% over the annual average of the past five years.  The projected first‑hand private residential unit supply for the next three to four years is 98,000 units, reaching a new high in recent years.

In addition to that, the Government has already identified sufficient land for the provision of more than 17,000 transitional housing units.  About 2,300 units are already in operation.  Also, more than 4,200 units are under construction and are expected for completion this year.  It is expected that another 11,000 more units will be completed for operation by the end of next year.

Building a Liveable City

Mr Chan explained that the current‑term Government is adopting a multi‑pronged strategy to actively expedite land supply for housing.  The Financial Secretary said there has been a steady land supply for private housing development over the past five years, involving around 86,000 units.  It is estimated that the overall land supply in 2021‑22 can provide about 20,000 units, around 7,000 more than the supply target.

Looking ahead, the 2022‑23 Land Sale Programme will comprise a total of 13 residential sites and four commercial sites, capable of providing about 8,000 residential units and about 300,000 sq m of commercial floor area.

Mr Chan added that with the residential sites under the Land Sale Programme, together with railway property development, private development and redevelopment projects as well as the Urban Renewal Authority’s projects, the potential land supply for the whole year is expected to have a capacity of about 18,000 units.

Mr Chan said: “As for land supply for private housing development in the short to medium term, we will secure approximately 103 hectares of land in the coming five years, and make available to the market sites for the production of over 57,000 units through land sales or putting up railway property developments for tender.”

He added: “In the coming year, I will introduce various enhancement measures to expedite the process, optimise land use and promote the application of innovation and technology in the construction industry, with a view to speeding up the use of land and housing production.”

Streamline statutory procedures

Meanwhile, the Development Bureau is pressing ahead with the review of the land development legislation, with a view to streamlining development processes and statutory procedures and hence shortening the time of land creation. The Government plans to introduce amendment bills into the Legislative Council within this year, hoping that all sectors of the community will support the reform.

Develop multi‑storey industrial buildings

With the launch of various large‑scale projects, many brownfield operations will inevitably be affected by land resumption.  The Government has engaged a consultancy firm to conduct a market sounding exercise to gauge market interest.  With the benefit of this exercise, Mr Chan said the Government is initially tending towards identifying sites in Hung Shui Kiu and Yuen Long for the development of multi‑storey industrial buildings by leveraging market forces.  These buildings will be mainly used by logistics and automobile repairing industries and will provide space for other appropriate uses and for brownfield site business operators affected by land resumption. 

Promote the adoption of I&T in the construction industry

Mr Chan proposed to inject another $1.2 billion for the ongoing operation and implementation of enhancement measures for the Construction Innovation & Technology Fund, including expanding the funding scope and increasing the funding ceiling. The Financial Secretary also earmarked $30 million to promote applied research and development as well as the adoption of new materials and innovative construction technologies in public works and the industry over the coming three years.

Further encourage the adoption of Modular Integrated Construction Method

Finally, Mr Chan talked about the advantage of Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) which he said helps substantially shorten construction time, address the problem of manpower shortage in the construction industry and reduce the environmental impacts brought by construction works. To expedite housing supply, Mr Chan said the Government will introduce more concessionary measures to encourage the adoption of MiC, including increasing the concession of floor area from the current 6% to 10% and providing corresponding site coverage concession as well as supporting applications for exceeding building height limits due to increase in floor area caused by the adoption of MiC. 

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