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6. Speeding Up Land

Development Processes

We agree that whilst creating developable land through land
reclamation and new town development are of utmost importance in
resolving the acute shortage of land in Hong Kong, much more needs to
be done to maximise the efficiency of our precious land resources, as well
as to provide different types of space in a timely manner in face of the
current problems. In this Chapter, we lay out three directions in which more
space could be made available in a speedier manner for various types of
properties in the short- and medium-term.

6.1 Increasing Development Density

As pointed out by the Secretary for Development Mr. Paul Chan,
boosting housing supply cannot solely rely on long-term land development
projects. Hence, almost immediately after the current-term government
assumed office, it has rolled out policy measures to increase land and
housing supply including heightening development density, Thi is to provide
more housing units in a timely manner on plots of developable land that
have already completed town planning and other statutory procedures.

Indeed, as of August 2016 the government has successfully sought
the approval of the TPB to relax the development controls (in the forms of
higher domestic plot ratios and / or building height) on 42 residential sites
since 2013. These relaxation has contributed to a total additional GFA of
some 3.4 million sf, or the equivalent of some 8,000 units (Table 9).
Table 9: Sites with which the government relaxed development density
42 cases in which Government relax the development density in the past three year s
District No. of sites Additional GFA(sf) Additional Flat (units)
2013
Tseung Kwan O 4 341,010 433
Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan 3 130,370 164
Tuen Mun, Yuen Long 2 91,380 170
Kai Tak 4 365,450 1,020
2014
Sha Tin, Ma On Shan 5 645,320 1,338
Tuen Mun, Yuen Long 4 158,330 246
Fanling, Sheung Shui 3 97,670 209
Kwai Chung 1 7,800 14
2015
Kai Tak 13 1,397,830 3,900
Yuen Long 1 4,310 2
Sheung Shui 1 149,620 260
2016
Kwai Chung 1 37,670 91
Total 42 3,426,760 7,847

Source: Town Planning Board, and Hong Kong Economic Times.
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