Page 97 - ENGLISH_FullText
P. 97

4. Land Reserve








                                                    For any large-scale land development projects, a long-term vision is
                                             needed to pursue an efficient and successful development process. Hence,
                                             it is within this underlying principle that the following chapter points to the
                                             necessity of a land reserve to satisfy Hong Kong’s spatial capacity and
                                             housing demand in the future.

                                             4.1 Consistency and Persistence in

                                             Land Supply Strategy


                                                    As evident in the analysis of the previous chapter, the lead-time
                                             from statutory planning process to the completion of building for medium
                                             to long-term large-scale land development initiatives could be exceedingly
                                             lengthy. Change of land use and other related statutory processes could
                                             be very complicated. Issues like land resumption, relocation, resettlement,
                                             and compensation have become increasingly convoluted. As discussed in
                                             Chapter 3, for brownfield sites development in the New Territories covering
                                             extensive expanses of private plots with varying operational usage, lead-
                                             times may take upward of 10 years, hence our disagreement with any
                                             land supply strategy that prioritise brownfield sites, or any other particular
                                             avenue of land supply over others.  Instead, we support a multi-pronged
                                             approach to increasing land supply, encompassing short-, medium- and
                                             long-term measures.


                                                    With the lead-time of large scale, medium- to long-term projects
                                             requiring an extended period for comprehensive planning and building
                                             construction, it is prudent that the government embarks on a systemic and
                                             persistent approach to land development. However, during the mid-2000s
                                             when the housing market began to rebound from its trough, much was
                                             left to be desired in terms of the consistency and persistence in the land
                                             supply strategy.


                                                    We have already analysed in our first Research Report how the
                                             Hong Kong community as a whole, has paid an immense price because
                                             of such a protracted lag in land supply in response to market changes. The
                                             first Research Report indicates that this has led to rapidly rising home prices
                                             and the surge in both residential and commercial rents, consequentially
                                             weakening Hong Kong’s economic competitiveness. Moreover, the
                                             healthcare system is also overburdened because of a shortage of land.


                                                                                                                  97
   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102