HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 11 January 1989
香港立法局
一九八九年一月十一日
13
With the exception of about three hectares of land remaining on the Tai Po Estate which is being reserved for applications involving the latest technologies, the great majority of sites at Tai Po had been granted by the end of the year. Also, demand for sites on the Yuen Long Estate continues to be strong, assisted, as it undoubtedly is, by Government's upgrading of the infrastructure in the north-west New Territories.
The favourable results enabled the corporation to make record repayments of $219 million to the Development Loan Fund, thus substantially reducing the corporation's indebtedness to the fund. The corporation is now on a sound financial footing. The Financial Secretary may be pleased to learn that it will not only be able to repay all the loans due before the remaining sites on the two estates are sold, but will produce a surplus as a contribution towards the capital cost of a third estate.
Although the main objective of the corporation is not to dispose of industrial land with maximum profit, yet the Board considers it prudent to review its land premia from time to time having regard to market trends. Consequently, the premia on the two estates were increased moderately in August 1988. They now stand at $1,250 per square metre for sites on the Tai Po Estate and at $1,100 at the Yuen Long Estate.
Sir, the corporation is conscious of the need to protect our environment and works very closely with the Environmental Protection Department in ensuring that applicants understand what is required of them at the early stage. A set of guidelines have been in use for some years and these were carefully reviewed and up-dated during the year. They are both practicable for the industrialists and acceptable to the Government. These guidelines are provided to potential investors when they first come to discuss sites with the corporation and applicants are encouraged to discuss their plans with the experts in the department at an early stage. I am pleased to report that the system is working well, and because of it, the corporation's estates provide the best conditions in Hong Kong for modern industrial projects.
I now turn to the prospects for 1988-89. They are, Sir, promising. In the first nine months of the year, the corporation has granted sites totalling 10 hectares to 11 applicants, all but three of which are on the Yuen Long Industrial Estate. Although the results are not quite as impressive as those for last year, the projects and proposed investments are on average larger than before. Three sizeable projects on the Yuen Long Estate taken together require only five hectares of land and will involve investments totalling over $1 billion. All three came from major overseas groups.