On the last Thursday (July 22), the Development Bureau announced that the "Land Sharing Pilot Scheme" finally received its first application.
The relevant application was filed by Golden Deer Property Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Nan Fung Development, located in the area from Lo Fai Road to Ting Kok Road in Tai Po, New Territories.
The project involves a land area of 3.2 hectares. They are currently mainly used as green belts on the outline zoning plan. The part of the budget intended for public housing or private development in the future accounts for 85.7%.
More than 40% of the land in the application for this project belongs to the government, and the private sector only accounts for less than 30% of the proposed development land.
According to the applicant’s plan, the total floor area of the private housing part is approximately 24,627 square meters, including 2 buildings, 493 residential units and 1,478 square meters of open space; the total floor area of the public housing or "first home" part is approximately 60,341 Square meters, including 4 buildings, 1,149 residential units, 100 residential care places for the elderly and 3,448 square meters of open space.
The first application for the Land Sharing Pilot Scheme involves 40% of government land.
The land in the gray area in the picture is private land.
(File screenshot)
Slow implementation goes against the original intention
One point that needs to be emphasized is that the Development Bureau is now officially "receiving" rather than "approving" this public-private partnership application. Therefore, it will take six months to consult relevant departments and submit it to the planning advisory team. Consider and obtain the approval of the Chief Executive-in-Council to start the procedures for rezoning statutory plans and land exchanges. If it goes well, the private housing part of the project is expected to be completed at least in November 2028, and the public housing or "first home ownership" part must The land formation project will be completed in the third quarter of 2025.
The original intention of the "Land Sharing Pilot Program" was to "speed up and promote the development of public and private housing in the applied land", and emphasized that "the government will provide consulting and promotion services within a reduced time," but its operation process is strictly The pre-research and approval of related funding links were skipped. The remaining statutory and administrative procedures were generally carried out in accordance with established practices. The authorities assessed that they would take at least 30 to 42 months. The progress of this part of the work has not been accelerated. .
The plan itself is not effective
Looking back on October 2018, the Chief Executive Carrie Lam proposed the concept of the “Land Sharing Pilot Plan” in the “Policy Address”. At first, she hoped to “launch the pilot plan next year”. However, she went to her next “Policy Policy” in October 2019. The report was changed to “formally accept applications at the beginning of next year.” The specific implementation and acceptance of the application results will have to wait until May 2020, during which it has taken nearly one and a half years to respond to a plan that claims to accelerate the supply of local housing. It's quite ironic.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor mentioned in his 2018 policy address that he launched a pilot land sharing plan to develop agricultural land in a public-private partnership model.
(Profile picture)
Moreover, as early as the middle of last year, there has been news that a developer intends to apply for the "Land Sharing Pilot Scheme". If the application for the project was proposed by the rumored developer at the time, it means that the plan is attractive to landowners. The low level cannot be lower. Not only did the prospective applicants have to hesitate for more than half a year to finalize the matter, but also did not attract other family members for a long time. I am afraid it is hard to be called the "timely and meaningful" plan envisaged. Effect".
In addition, this "Land Sharing Pilot Project" has received the only application project so far, and it was immediately criticized by all parties for ignoring the environmental value of the green belt and the local transportation pressure, and the overall response of the plan was far from ideal. At the moment, if the government does not intend to further increase the relevant incentives and the speed of implementation, it would be better to admit its failure and halt plan early, return its efforts and resources to the "Land Resumption Ordinance", relax the threshold for the development of "Zutangdi" and other changes. Cost-effective development options.
Relaxing the resale of the ancestral hall is desirable, but the management mechanism must be established. The reconstruction of Cha Kwo Ling has been delayed for more than 20 years. The government should not write any more bad checks. The land sharing plan is lacking and the Development Bureau should face the problem.
