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Planning, Land and Infrastructure
Lantau Island
In January, the Lantau Development Advisory Committee submitted to the Chief Executive its first-term work report, 'Space for All, covering mainly five aspects of proposals: spatial planning and land use, conservation, strategic traffic and transport infrastructure, recreation and tourism, and social development. The public's views on the proposals were collected from January to April and, taking into account those views, the government is preparing a blueprint for Lantau development and conservation for publication in the first half of 2017. The Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) in 2016 started phase 2 stage 1 improvement works at Mui Wo and Tai O as well as the improvement and expansion of mountain bike trails in South Lantau.
Land Supply
Providing land for infrastructure, facilities and development is an important part of the government's work to meet development needs. The supply of new developable land through reclamation and site formation and different types of properties has slowed down significantly over the past decade despite continued growth in population, households and Gross Domestic Product.
Hong Kong needs to increase land supply to support its sustainable development. The government adopts a multi-pronged strategy to increase land supply in the short, medium and long term:
• Increasing development intensity of developable land: mainly by raising the development intensity of individual housing sites by up to 20 per cent where planning terms permit, and lifting development restrictions on specific areas where it is considered justified and acceptable to do so;
• Changing land use and converting reserved sites: mainly by conducting land use reviews of existing land, such as government sites and green belt, to identify potential sites suitable for housing, economic and other development needs and to initiate change of their uses, and by converting reserved sites with no development plan or for which the original purpose is no longer pursued for other suitable uses where planning terms permit;
• Facilitating and expediting development and redevelopment on existing land: mainly by expediting railway property development and urban renewal, streamlining development processes and implementing measures, such as the Pilot Scheme for Arbitration on Land Premium, to facilitate private development;
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Taking forward major land development projects: mainly by taking forward planning and engineering studies and works for comprehensive development of new development areas and new town extensions, including the conversion of brownfield sites and squatter areas in the rural New Territories for high-density development; and
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