Hong Kong government, MTR to release five housing sites for sale

The government and MTR Corporation will release five housing sites worth HK$5.5 billion for sale between now and September 30.

Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po said yesterday that the government would release four residential sites, in Lei Yue Mun, Tuen Mun, Fanling and Tai Po, and a 1,100-room hotel site in Tung Chung, between July and September. The four sites could provide 2,100 flats.

The MTR will release a site at Tai Wai station for tender for a second time during the same period. When the project was first released in 2012, the winning bidder would have had to invest HK$29 billion to acquire the site and build flats on it.

The number of flats the five sites will provide is 56 per cent more than will be built on land sold in the first quarter.

The Tai Wai MTR station site and a site at Pak Shek Kok, Tai Po, were previously withdrawn from tender because the offers submitted by developers failed to meet the reserve price.

With many sites in the land sale programme yet to be rezoned for residential use, the government is facing a challenge to meet its target of providing enough land for 18,800 private flats in the current financial year.