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Wednesday, October 17, 1973
suitable land for development at reasonable prices, or through any failure
of the system of competitive bidding for lots to attract particular types
of new industry which would contribute to the expansion and diversification of
our economy.
The Government has been examining its industrial land policy and
we conclude that some revision may be desirable.
You may recall that in December of last year I indicated that the
Government had decided to make some sites available for special industrios
for sale on a restricted user basis. The first such site on Tsing Yi
Island was sold in April of this year. Several other sites may be sold on
this basis in the near future.
The shortage of land for private development is apparent. A
determined search has therefore been made for large blocks of unformed land
that could be made available quickly for private development. The Secretary
for Environment will be explaining the results later in the debate.
For the rest there is not so much an absolute shortage of land as lack of
access communications that make land attractive to developers. It is against
this background that we are pressing on with a second tunnel to Shatin, and
a motorway to Castle Peak, and both in due course will open up other
substantial areas for development, as will the new bridge to Tsing Yi Island,
in itself a monument to the far-sightedness of our entrepreneurs. But of course the greatest untouched land asset at present is Lantau. Even if, as I think should be the case, the bulk of this large island were reserved for recreation
purposes there is ample room for badly needed additional sites for industry
and residential development. It is against this background that we are once
more investigating the possibility of constructing a bridge.
/Urban Council