Property owners pinning their hopes on higher land values following the lifting of Kowloon's building height restrictions after the airport is relocated to Chek Lap Kok in 1998 could be disappointed.
Even if all airport height restrictions were relaxed following the relocation of the airport from Kai Tak, it would not necessarily mean that landlords or developers could add more floor space to their land or existing properties.
The Government imposed building density controls in Kowloon and New Kowloon in December 1993 in order to maintain balanced growth and to prevent over-development or the emergence of a gap between property development and infrastructure development.
With its strong implications for the huge number of property assets or land in the affected areas, the gazetting of the amendments to the 16 Outline Zoning Plans (OZPs) in December 1993, not surprisingly, drew scathing attacks from property owners - most notably the Real Estate Developers' Association (Reda).
The association, comprising the territory's biggest developers, was critical of the way that the OZPs could reduce the potential value of privately-owned land in the affected areas.
The association started to fight immediately, and in 1995 decided to take its struggle with the Town Planning Board (TPB), which granted the approval of the zoning amendments, to court.
The association's application for judicial review on the TPB's decision on the OZP amendments was dismissed after a hearing early this year.
