Developers may benefit if green-belt areas in Hong Kong are opened up

The opening up of a debate about housing development in country parks is being watched with interest by the city's developers, not least because it increases the chances they will be able to dust off schemes in green-belt areas.

Some of the city's biggest developers - including New World Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Henderson Land and Wheelock Properties - have been actively snapping up green-belt land and conservation areas in the New Territories for years.

But their attempts to develop land zoned as green belt - areas on the fringes of urban communities designated by the government to prevent cities and towns from encroaching on environmentally sensitive areas - have largely been thwarted by the Town Planning Board.

Experts in the industry say development minister Paul Chan Mo-po's suggestion earlier this month that the idea of building in country parks should be debated may offer new hope for the developers; after all, why build in country parks when less ecologically valuable green-belt land is available?

"It's difficult to get planning approval to build residential projects in green-belt areas," surveyor Albert So Chun-hin said. "It seems that nine out of 10 applications would be rejected. If the government wants to develop sites in country parks, they should consider residential development in green belt first."

A home for the elderly proposed by New World for Mui Tze Lam in Sha Tin is typical of the developments that may benefit from the idea. The site is surrounded by Ma On Shan country park. New World first applied in 2005 to build six buildings of between one and four storeys, offering 550 flats for elderly people. The plan was rejected in 2008 on the grounds that such a residential development would go against the green-belt designation there.

Green-belt land in Tai Po is also a popular target for developers.