5
i
square feet, creating a commitment for about 4 million
square feet of new building land. It is expected that
at least this rate of resumption will be maintained
}
in future years, adding further annual commitments
for at least 4 million square feet of new building
land each year.
The System of Allocation of sites and its Effect on Commitments
2.4
The present system of allocation of new sites
by a tender system favours the oldest exchange
commitments offered (see paragraph 8 of Enclosure 1).
The limited amount of land within New Territories
urban development areas which has hitherto been made
available for letter B tender and the continued appreciation
in the value of entitlements through the increasing
difference between current values of the premia payable,
tend to encourage the owners to save older exchange
entitlements for tendering for the most valuable
sites in the New Territories urban development areas,
which can thus be obtained at a fraction of their
present value. There is no compulsion on any owner of
an exchange entitlement to use it, and recent Government
attempts to reduce the commitment by the offer of
less valuable lands by Letter B tender have on several
occasions been frustrated by the unwillingness on the
/part