Stanley, Tai Lam sites most valuable
The Stanley and Tai Lam prisons are ranked as the most valuable penal institution sites.
Three surveyors invited to estimate the land value of the 15 prison sites, which house 24 institutions, found only nine suitable for redevelopment.
The surveyors said the remaining six, such as the 260 hectares of land on Hei Ling Chau, were problematic due to factors such as difficult access.
The 159-year-old Victoria Prison in Old Bailey Street, Central, cannot be demolished as it is a protected monument.
The estimated land value for the nine marketable sites totalled $38.4 billion.
The largest share - $12 billion - would come from the 27-hectare Tai Lam site in Castle Peak Road.
But the 35-hectare site occupied by Stanley Prison, Tung Tau Correctional and Pak Sha Wan Correctional institutions in Stanley was expected to fetch the highest accommodation value of between $5,000 to $5,500 per square foot.
While any release of these sites was expected to have an impact on the property market, Knight Frank's director of valuation, Anthony Lau Chun-kuen, said the Government could exercise control by releasing them in stages.
Pang Shiu-kee, managing director of S. K. Pang Surveyors & Co, said that because of the relatively remote locations of the prison sites, most were more suitable for low to medium-density residential development.
But he said a few of the sites, such as Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, could have a higher plot ratio because they were near transport.
Midland Surveyors director Tony Chan Tung-ngok said it was time for the Government to conduct a review as many of the sites were old and incompatible with the surrounding environment.
