INDUSTRY AND TRADE
HKPC is the government's agent for all matters concerning the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO). During the year, under the sponsorship of the APO, HKPC held two seminars on total quality and urban transport management.
Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation
The majority of Hong Kong's factories are accommodated in high-rise multi-storey industrial buildings. However, for industrial processes which are land and capital intensive, requiring heavy floor loadings, high ceilings or other specific features, the Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation offers an alternative. It can provide sites on its industrial estates to industries with a relatively high level of technology that cannot operate effectively in ordinary multi-storey factory buildings. Applicants are then able to design and construct factory premises to meet their own specific requirements.
The corporation manages two industrial estates, in Tai Po and Yuen Long, and is developing a third estate in Tseung Kwan O through reclamation from the sea. Engineering design is already under way for the latter which will provide about 70 hectares of net usable land. Sites on this third estate are scheduled to be available in 1993.
About 120 sites on Tai Po and Yuen Long estates have been granted to applicants. The land premiums, based on cost, are $1,350 per square metre for Tai Po and $1,200 per square metre for Yuen Long. The Tai Po Industrial Estate, which has a total of 71 hectares of land, is nearly full, with only five hectares left, of which three hectares along the seafront are reserved for high-technology industries. The Yuen Long Industrial Estate provides 67 hectares of land, of which more than half has been granted.
All three industrial estates are situated near new towns with populations ranging up to 400 000. This enables managers on the estates to tap a ready supply of manpower. The estates are fully serviced with roads, drains and sewers, electricity and water. They have good transport links to the urban area, the container terminal, the airport and the border with China. Companies on the estates and prospective applicants are expected to adopt modern environmental protection measures, and the corporation works closely with the Environmental Protection Department in offering advice to interested applicants.
The corporation's estates are held under leases from the Hong Kong Government. In accordance with the Joint Declaration signed by the British and Chinese Governments, the leases have been extended from 1997 to 2047. The separate documentation necessary was signed by the Hong Kong Government and the corporation and became effective on May 4, 1990. The corporation is now starting the process of extending the term of the sub-leases granted to over 100 companies on the two estates case by case. All new sub-leases will now be granted up to 2047. These actions should remove uncertainty over the expiry of the leases in 1997 and help to instill confidence in potential investors. Plans can now be made by investors up to the middle of the next century.
External Trade
Hong Kong is among the top 11 traders in the world. Overall, its trade is normally in balance and in 1990 it showed a small deficit. Its largest trading partner is China, followed by the United States and Japan. Its external trade was generally buoyant in 1990. Total merchandise trade amounted to $1,282,405 million, an increase of 13 per cent over 1989. Imports rose by 14 per cent to $642,530 million and re-exports by 20 per cent to $413,999 million while domestic exports increased by one per cent to $225,875 million. Domestic
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