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HOUSING AND LAND
Sales of industrial land, much of it at Kowloon Bay, totalled some 78 000 square metres, a number of the sites being sold for godown purposes or with the requirement for small factory units or heavy floor loading capabilities and high ceiling clearances.
Low-rent housing for middle income purchasers is provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society under the Urban Improvement Scheme or by the Housing Authority or the private sector in joint ventures under the Home Ownership Scheme. Land for such purposes is granted to the society or authority at full market value, or in joint venture cases it is offered for premium tender to the private sector. In all such cases government reserves the right to nominate purchasers of individual flats provided under the scheme.
It is also government policy, in certain areas, to modify old lease conditions which restrict the development permitted on a lot, in order to allow redevelopment complying with the applicable town planning requirements. A premium - equivalent to the difference in land value between the development permitted under the existing lease and that permissible under the new lease terms – is normally payable for any modification granted. A premium is also payable where a lot held on an expiring non-renewable 75 year lease is regranted to the former owners. Special arrangements have been introduced to deal with expired leases where the ownership is divided among a number of owners. In the case of the owners of property, the leases of which give them the option to renew the lease for a further term, the Crown Leases Ordinance was enacted in 1973 to impose a new Crown rent related to the rateable value of the property situated on the lot.
Important Transactions
Important land transaction during 1981 included the sales by tender of four large high class residential sites, totalling some 250 000 square metres, at Tat Chee Avenue and Tai Woh Ping in Kowloon and at Tai Tam Reservoir Road and Red Hill on Hong Kong Island. These sales will produce approximately 1900 high class flats by about 1983-4, and a further 160 government quarters.
During the year the grant was completed of the site of the former Macau Ferry Terminal to a private developer for the development of a large modern terminal facility to handle the increased number of passengers travelling between Hong Kong and Macau. The developer was also granted an adjoining site for the development of a commercial building incorporating vehicular and pedestrian access arrangements connected with the terminal. The new terminal is expected to be completed mid-1984.
The largest land transaction in the New Territories involved the disposal by cash tender in April of a 53 030 square-metre site in Tuen Mun for a Home Ownership Scheme project. The price paid by the developer, who will build up to 2 300 flats, was $303.3 million.
In early 1981, at an auction which realised a total of more than $438 million, a Sha Tin site for hotel development sold for $241 million. The site measured 5 000 square metres. At the same auction, government disposed of, for $169 million, the first Tai Po new town centre site to be offered. The site covered 5 012 square metres. A similar site was withdrawn in August when there were no bids beyond $97 million.
In July a site of 7 286 square metres in Sha Tin for industrial godown development, including a vehicle showroom and service centre, was sold for $110 million.
Government will obtain 220 quarters for its staff as a result of the sale by cash tender of two Sha Tin sites in July and August. One, measuring 50 050 square metres, is close to the Lion Rock Tunnel and the other, measuring 7 070 square metres, overlooks the racecourse. Under the conditions the purchasers are required to include flats for government staff in the developments.