SPEECH BY THE HONOURABLE THE. SECRETARY FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON 18 APRIL 1985
Sir,
I move that the Hong Kong Industrial
Estates Corporation (Amendment) Bill 1985 be read
the second time.
2.
The main purpose of the Bill is to provide
that the size of the Corporation's Board be increased
by one, and changed to permit an unofficial majority.
The opportunity is also taken to make clear that
the Chief Executive of the Corporation may be a public
officer.
3.
The Industrial Estates Corporation was
established in 1977 with the basic purposes of
developing, letting and managing the industrial estates
to be constructed at Tai Po and Yuen Long. During
the first three or four years of its life, demand for
sites at the Tai Po Estate, the first to be developed,
was brisk. Subsequently, however, interest among
industrialists slackened for a number of reasons.
These included the drop in property prices which made
land in the industrial estates, the price of which
was linked to the costs of development, less competitive
with sites and premises elsewhere. (I am pleased to
add there has been a significant increase in interest
recently.)