104
HOUSING AND LAND
in December for $260 million - a record price of $173,333 a square metre. A 2,900-square metre site, sold in January, realised $215 million – $74,138 a square metre; while a 4,500- square metre site, sold in June, achieved $400 million $88,889 a square metre.
Three sites in Kowloon - at Lai Chi Kok, Lam Tin and Ngau Tau Kok - were granted to the Housing Authority for the Home Ownership Scheme. At Victoria Barracks, 18 hectares of land, previously used by the British Ministry of Defence, was handed over to the Hong Kong Government on March 31, 1979, as part of the Defence Costs Agreement. Some of the area will be reserved for recreational and leisure purposes, while the remainder will be used for commercial, residential and government projects.
In the New Territories, at Ho Chung near Sai Kung, a site was granted by the government for the construction of a $300 million high-class housing and marina complex modelled on Port Grimaud in the south of France. The project, which will include a yacht club, will provide 400 three-storey home units, each with a marina_berth. At Clear Water Bay, a 121-hectare site was granted for development as a golf course with a country club and marina. A 140,000-square metre site was granted in Tsing Lung Tau, west of Tsuen Wan, for the construction of a high-class residential complex for 12,500 people in some 60 12-storey blocks.
With the modernisation and electrification of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, the new Sha Tin depot has been designed to incorporate a substantial commercial/residential complex. Development rights for this complex were sold by tender in 1979. A number of high-rise residential blocks which will ultimately accommodate some 13,000 people, with supporting commercial facilities, will be built on a 27,000-square metre podium.
In addition to the two Home Ownership Scheme sites previously granted at Sha Tin and Lai King in the New Territories, another site of 0.79 hectares at Lai Yiu (Kwai Chung) was granted in 1979 to accommodate 290 flats.
Revenue-
Revenue received by the government from land transactions in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon totalled $1,004.9 million in 1979, compared with $881.8 million in 1978. In the New Territories, revenue from land sales amounted to $211 million. (Revenue includes both premia and instalments paid on land transactions in the course of the year, depending on the terms of the sale.)
The demand for temporary occupation of Crown land continues and, where possible, such land is made available under the terms of a short-term tenancy. However in April, 1978, a new system was introduced in the urban areas under which sites for open storage or car parking were offered on a competitive basis by open tender; during 1979 the system was extended to the New Territories. In 1979, revenue from tenancies amounted to $40.5 million in the urban areas and $18 million in the New Territories. A further $12 million in revenue came from letting buildings owned wholly or partly by the govern-
ment.
Control
The government is continuing its policy of fencing vacant cleared sites and installing security guards. This mitigates problems of site clearance and interference with the regular Crown land sales programme. The Director of Public Works and the Secretary for the New Territories also have powers to combat unlawful occupation of Crown land and to enable clearances to be effected more quickly, usually without litigation.