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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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