The government’s decision in 2018 to withdraw the Mansfield Road site from sale demonstrated a welcome commitment not to allow prime Hong Kong land assets to be sold below their fair value. At the time, there was talk in the market that the plot could fetch around HK$120,000 per square foot. However, a recent event has served to highlight that nothing has really changed and that developers continue to dominate the city. Those of us bemused by the government’s baffling decision two years ago to approve a land exchange with Juli May Limited (a Cheung Kong subsidiary), handing over an exceptional green belt site on Coombe Road near Aberdeen Country Park in exchange for a derelict old house on a cramped site opposite, were even more confounded by the recent announcement of the actual land premium, a paltry HK$25 million, or roughly HK$2,111 psf. The original plot where the run-down old house is sitting has no view and is next to a car park. The green belt land offered for exchange is near Aberdeen Country Park and will have a 270-degree view of the country park and the sea – certainly not a like for like exchange. The government has already ignored its own departmental and widespread public condemnation of its decision to exchange a run-down property for this prime site. At the bare minimum, the exchange should demand a premium equivalent to that which referenced the Mansfield Road site. With so many suffering in the city from the pandemic and recent social unrest, it is sad to see the government still pandering to the demands of our large developers instead of acting in the interests of the general public. Richard Winter, The Peak
