Developers are hitting back at moves by the government to stop awarding them extra floor area for putting green features in their projects, saying its approach is 'too simplistic' and is 'not addressing the real issues'.
The Real Estate Developers Association said the real solution to the proliferation of wall-like buildings, poor ventilation, rising urban temperatures, lack of green space and air pollution was to sell less urban land and to use sites now planned for sale to create more open space.
It also urged the government to 'consider carefully' the impact of its proposals on the value of land developers had bought but not yet built on.
The comments came in a statement issued a little more than a week after Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said he might introduce a law to require developers to provide green facilities without concessions.
It was the association's first response to a consultation, launched in June, on whether developers should continue to gain bonus floor area as an incentive to build such features as balconies and sky gardens.
Developers have been allowed to build most of the so-called green features without paying a premium for them for about a decade. Balconies are one exception that they have to pay a premium for, but at a lower price per square foot than that they sell to home hunters. These facilities have been exempt in the calculation of the development?s area.