Exclusive | Lantau seafront site to yield ‘thousands of subsidised flats’ in bid to plug Hong Kong’s housing shortfall

Name: Part of Hong Kong’s Fanling golf course to be sacrificed for flats
Uploaded: 2020-11-16T00:00:15.000Z
Description: Part of Hong Kong’s Fanling golf course to be sacrificed for flats

Project, which will also include private homes, set to be announced in coming policy address by city leader, source says

Development marks first time MTR Corp will contribute to public housing, with up to half of site quota designated as subsidised homes

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An aerial view of Siu Ho Wan MTR Depot on Lantau Island. Photo: Roy Issa

Joyce Ng

Published: 8:00am, 16 Nov 2020Updated: 8:32am, 16 Nov 2020

A seafront site on Lantau Island will deliver thousands of subsidised homes to help plug Hong Kong’s shortage of affordable housing, with the area served by a railway and the project to be unveiled by the city’s leader in her coming policy address, the Post has learned.

The scheme, yielding more than 14,000 homes in total, also marks the first time the MTR Corporation will contribute to public housing since it was listed in 2000, with up to half of flats there to be sold as subsidised homes, and the remainder to be private.

Another bid to boost public housing, involving a redevelopment of part of an exclusive golf course in Fanling, which will start in three years, will double the number of public rental homes from 4,000 in the original proposal to 8,000, according to sources.

Part of Hong Kong’s Fanling golf course to be sacrificed for flats

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor will deliver her fourth policy speech on November 25, after delaying it for more than a month to work out measures with Beijing. Among key issues set to be raised are the revitalisation of the city’s ailing economy and development in the Greater Bay Area.

Lam is also expected to report on the progress of a drive to ease the city’s housing shortfall, an issue singled out by state media as a “root cause” of last year’s anti-government protests.

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According to a source familiar with the Lantau project, the government has worked out details with the rail giant for a 30-hectare Siu Ho Wan Depot site in the northeastern part of the island. Officials last year urged the MTR Corp to take up “social responsibility” and provide public housing on the plot.

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Exclusive | Lantau seafront site to yield ‘thousands of subsidised flats’ in bid to plug Hong Kong’s housing shortfall

Exclusive | Lantau seafront site to yield ‘thousands of subsidised flats’ in bid to plug Hong Kong’s housing shortfall