WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1983
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HE ADDED: +MY ESTIMATE OF $3 BILLION IS BASED UPON AN ASSESSMENT OF THE PRICES LIKELY TO BE REALISED FROM THE INDIVIDUAL LOTS MAKING UP THE LAND SALES PROGRAMME FOR 1983-84. THIS VIEW IS OF NECESSITY HIGHLY SPECULATIVE, AND I BEAR IN MIND THAT I WAS WRONG LAST YEAR.+
THE 1983-84 LAND SALES PROGRAMME COMPRISES 96.7 HECTARES OF LAND, ON WHICH THE REVENUE FROM PREMIA IS ESTIMATED AT $1.7 BILLION.
MR BREMRIDGE EXPLAINED THAT THE PROGRAMME INCLUDED 14 RELATIVELY LARGE SITES, THE REVENUE FROM WHICH WAS LIKELY TO BE MORE THAN $550 MILLION, PROVIDED THAT THESE SITES WERE SOLD AS SCHEDULED AND THAT THE VIEW TAKEN OF THE PREMIA LIKELY TO BE REALISED TURNED OUT TO BE CORRECT.
+ IN BRIEF THE MARGINS OF ERROR ARE GREAT,+ HE POINTED OUT.
BUT HE SAID THE PROGRAMME DID NOT INCLUDE FIVE WELL-KNOWN, LARGE AND VALUABLE SITES WHICH +SOME BELIEVE THAT THE MARKET MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ABSORB THEM AT ACCEPTABLE PRICES IN ONE YEAR.
+IT WILL, HOWEVER, BE A MATTER OF JUDGMENT WHEN EACH MIGHT BEST BE OFFERED FOR SALE, REMEMBERING THAT OUR OVERALL POLICY IS TO SECURE A FAIR MARKET PRICE, HE SAID.
MR BREMRIDGE WAS +PERSONALLY ANXIOUS+ TO PUT THEM UP FOR AUCTION OR TENDER AS SOON AS SENSIBLE FOR TWO REASONS I
*
IT WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE A HIGH LAND PRICE POLICY ALTHOUGH LAND IS REGARDED AS A COMMUNITY BIRTHRIGHT, AND
* THOSE WHO WISH TO BUY LAND NOW SHOULD BE GIVEN EVERY
ENCOURAGEMENT.
IT REMAINED IMPORTANT THAT SENSIBLE STARTING PRICES WERE MAINTAINED IN PUBLIC AUCTIONS AND THAT TENDERS AT PRICES SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN THE RUN OF THE MARKET SHOULD NOT BE ACCEPTED, HE SAID.
HE ADDED: +LAND PRICES SEEM NOW TO BE STABILISED AND WILL IMPROVE AS CONFIDENCE RETURNS TO THE MARKET. BUT IT IS A FACT THAT POOR PLANNING BY SPECULATORS HAS LED TO CONSIDERABLE OVERSUPPLY OF ALL TYPES OF PROPERTY.+
MR BREMRIDGE ALSO EXPECTED REVENUE OF $1 BILLION FROM PRIVATE TREATY GRANTS AND $270 MILLION FROM MODIFICATIONS AND RE-GRANTS.
+MUCH DEPENDS, HOWEVER, ON PREMIA ANTICIPATED FROM SITES TO BE GRANTED TO THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY CORPORATION FOR JOINT DEVELOPMENT, HE SAID.
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