Tycoon Lee Shau-kee may donate land for cheap housing

Property tycoon Lee Shau-kee is considering donating farmland to the government to use for affordable housing, his company confirmed on Friday.

Henderson Land Development, one of the city's largest developers, said it had been in talks with the government about the plan, but it gave no details of the location, size or number of pieces of land Lee would donate.

The statement came about a month after Lee, Henderson's chairman, said his company would consider building homes in the New Territories with a price tag of only HK$1 million each for first-time homebuyers, as long as the government would exempt it from paying a land premium.

"If the government waives land-premium charges on farmland modifications, we hopefully can build flats of 300 sq ft at a price of HK$1 million each," he said at the time.

Yesterday, Ming Pao reported that Lee had contacted the government before the Lunar New Year about his proposal. The government in turn proposed that the billionaire donate his farmland for low-priced flats.

The newspaper cited sources saying Lee was favourable towards the counter-proposal, provided such flats were targeted at young homebuyers.