The following is the question raised by the Hon. Lui Ming-wah and the written reply given by the Acting Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Patrick Lau, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question :
Regarding the supply of private residential units, will the Government inform this Council whether :
(a) it knows the respective areas of building land presently held by various major property developers;
(b) it knows the total area of residential units which major property developers plan to put up for sale in each of the next five years; and
(c) property developers are required to complete building and sell the residential units within a certain period of time after the acquisition of building land from the Government; if so, the number of projects that did not meet this requirement in the past five years and its percentage of the total number of projects?
Madam President :
(a) The Government does not compile statistics on the total area of building land presently held by individual property developers. It should be noted that developers may hold land under different subsidiary and related companies;
(b) The Government does not compile statistics on the total floor area of residential units which individual property developers plan to put up for sale in each of the next five years. The timing of the sale of individual residential developments is a commercial decision based on their marketing strategies. The Government's role is to make available sufficient land and infrastructure to facilitate the private sector in meeting the long term demand of the community for private housing; and
(c) Where land is acquired from the Government through auction, tender or private treaty grant, the lease conditions will always impose a building covenant period within which the development must be completed in accordance with the conditions. Depending on the size and complexity of the development, this period can vary from a minimum of three years up to six years or more. Our statistics on compliance with the building covenant period, which have been compiled since 1997, show that 61 out of a total of 81 cases (i.e. 75 per cent) with the building covenant period expiring between January 1, 1997 and June 30, 1998 were completed on time.
End/Wednesday, January 6, 1999
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