Concrete AnalysisNew Development Areas need mechanism to adjudicate land exchanges

Chief Secretary Carrie Lam advised the Legislative Council in late June that the government would adopt "a conventional New Town approach" to land resumption, the process where the government exercises statutory power to compulsorily take over ownership of private land "for achieving a public purpose", for the proposed New Development Areas (NDAs) in the northeast New Territories.

The decision represented a complete about-turn from earlier suggestions which indicated the possibility that private sector participation might be an option, presumably through the conventional land exchange mechanism, given the large landholdings that a number of developers have put together in the area.

The previous documents also stated that the implementation processes should be fair and equitable, in the public interest, and in line with the legislative framework.

Major concern surrounds that dreaded, over-used and toxic, word "collusion" which now hangs over the government. It occurs nearly every time a property deal is in the headlines, for example earlier in the same month when the Ocean Terminal lease renewal was in the news and the government was criticised for charging too low a premium, Lam was quick to deny there had been any collusion.

In the case of the land resumptions for the NDAs, Lam again made reference to the problems associated with "collusion" for the about-turn in the government's approach.

The development industry and the administration have a responsibility to find a solution to this impasse, otherwise it is going to be increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for property development as we know it to continue into the future.