Homes for tens of thousands of people are to be built on land left by the British Garrison. Three urban and five New Territories sites will provide up to 90 hectares of land allocated for the development of about 8,000 flats. Blackdown Barracks, San Po Kong, Kowloon Tsai married quarters, Kowloon City and the British Military Hospital, Yau Ma Tei make up the urban sites, while the former rural sites include Burma Lines near Lowu, Perowne Barracks and Pearl Island Married Quarters in Tuen Mun. The land, handed over in the past few years, will be used to develop housing, schools, recreational facilities and open space. Director of Planning Dr Peter Pun Kwok-shing said although the land was mostly ready for development, he could not tell when residents could move in. 'These [flats] cannot be introduced at once as there are factors such as infrastructure and other amenities in each area we need to study further,' Dr Pun said. 'Many of the New Territories sites are not all that easily accessible.' The lack of infrastructure has forced the department to consider mostly low density housing for the rural sites. Dr Pun said urban sites had a better chance of housing more people because they were close to transport and shopping. 'Although many of these military sites are big in area they are designed for military purposes and are surrounded by trees and are far from town centres and so may require low-density development,' Dr Pun said. 'We have to look at whether there is sufficient infrastructure, good amenities and also look at the landscapes of the area. So it is impossible for us to know how many will be available by the end of the year for development.' Although more than 150,000 people are waiting for public housing, the department says the sites could be used for a variety of housing, including luxury flats in the rural areas. Legislator Lee Wing-tat called for urgent development of infrastructure to free more of the sites for high-density housing and help to relieve waiting lists. 'I am sure that in some of these areas they can allocate some high rises as it should not all be for low level development,' Mr Lee said.
