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Land
HOUSING AND LAND
In May, 1977, the Governor appointed a Special Committee on Land Production, under the chairmanship of the Secretary for the Environment, to prepare a study of potential development areas in Kowloon and the New Territories. The committee's report, published in November, 1977, showed that the existing programme of works provided a fairly steady programme of land production up to 1981-2 and could be drawn out further than scheduled. The committee is examining how a continuing land production programme could be maintained to meet demand after 1981-2.
Administration
Land administration on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon is the responsibility of the Director of Public Works, who also is the Building Authority and the chairman of the Town Planning Board. The Crown Lands and Survey Office of the Public Works Department, comprising the Land and Valuation Branches staffed by professional officers, is responsible for carrying out land sales, land and property valuations, land acquisition, estate management and clearance services in all three areas. One section records and analyses all sales and lettings in the urban areas, in order to monitor market trends and factors affecting the value of land and buildings.
The Secretary for the New Territories is responsible for land administration in the New Territories. His supporting staff for this purpose comprises professional officers seconded from the Crown Lands and Survey Office, assisted by his own departmental staff.
Policy=-
All land in Hong Kong is owned by the Crown, which sells or grants leasehold inter- ests. In the early days, Crown leases were for terms of 75, 99 or 999 years. They have now been standardised in the urban areas of Hong Kong and Kowloon to a term of 75 years, usually renewable for a further 75 years at a reassessed Crown rent under the provisions of the Crown Leases Ordinance. Crown leases for land in the New Territories and New Kowloon are normally sold for the residue of a term of 99 years less the last three days from July 1, 1898, and therefore terminate three days before the expiry of the lease from China.
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The government's land policy is to optimise the use of land within the framework of development plans. Most land available for commercial, industrial or residential (other than public housing) development in the urban areas is sold by public auction, which ensures its most economic use. Regular auctions are held by the government and a six-monthly provisional Crown land sales forecast is published twice a year. In the towns of the New Territories however, where much of the development land has to be resumed, a high proportion of development land is disposed of by exchanges to the former owners who are thus able to take part in the progress of the area.
Leases for certain special purposes, which have particular site requirements or other factors which would make a public auction undesirable, are offered for sale by public tender. These special purposes include capital-intensive industries, which introduce higher technology and more technological skills into Hong Kong, that could not be appropriately housed in multi-storey buildings. These sales are initiated only in