Hong Kong protests hit other areas of city life as government hints at land supply delay, sparking fears of rise in house prices
- Secretary for Development Michael Wong said issue has been put on back burner as atmosphere in city is ‘quite tense’
- Plan would see government partner with developers to build on city’s large tracts of farmland
A plan for the Hong Kong government to partner with private developers to build on the city’s large tracts of farmland may be delayed, sparking fears of a short-term lack of land supply.
Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun said on Tuesday that officials had not decided when to submit details of the so-called land sharing plan, in which developers give a slice of their farmland to the government for building public housing in exchange for higher development density, even though Wong had earlier said a detailed proposal could be out this month.
“The social atmosphere at the moment is quite tense,” Wong said. “We felt that it would be better to discuss many issues when the atmosphere has become more relaxed.”
The programme is the government’s major short-term measure to release some 1,000 hectares of agricultural land owned by developers. Now uncertainties surrounding the plan have raised concerns the government could run out of land soon, further heating up the world’s most expensive property market.
The measure is one of several controversial issues the government has pushed back in an attempt to avoid further escalating public tension.
Wong said the plan, which would permit developers to build larger housing estates than currently allowed, in exchange for the government taking 60 to 70 per cent of the extra density for public housing, involved many details the government wished to discuss further.
He said officials were also looking at how to balance the developers’ interests and the need for more affordable housing.
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But Stewart Leung Chi-kin, executive committee chairman of the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, urged the government to release details as soon as possible.
Leung said a proposed requirement to tax developers on unsold flats would speed them up in selling developments, but if the government did not have enough land to sell, and the farmland measure were delayed, developers would face a drain on their land banks.
“If you can’t find more land in the short term, the property prices may become higher, which we do not want to see either,” Leung said. “[The extradition bill] should not affect other government departments’ work.”
Chau Kwong-wing, the University of Hong Kong’s chair professor of real estate and construction, agreed the uncertainties over the strategy might keep the property market from cooling, but said the impact on short-term land supply might be limited.
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“If the scheme has good details, it will pass quickly even if it’s delayed,” Chau said.
Anthony Chiu Kwok-wai, executive director of the Federation of Public Housing Estates, urged the government to take back a 172-hectare golf course in Fanling to build a small new town.
“By so doing, the government can win public trust that it is determined to solve the housing problem,” Chiu said.
The land sharing project is one of eight measures to source more land recommended by the government-appointed Task Force on Land Supply at the end of last year. Chau was a member on the now-defunct task force.
