XN000022-1980-03-27 — Page 11

THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1980

9

HE POINTED OUT THAT IN ORDER TO ASSESS THE CHANCES OF ACHIEVING THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY'S FORECASTS ON LAND PRODUCTION, LAND SALES, AND PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC HOUSING, HE HAD ATTEMPTED TO COMPARE THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE IN RECENT YEARS AND THE LATEST FORECASTS FOR FUTURE YEARS IN THESE THREE AREAS.

HOWEVER, HE SAID, SOME DATA WAS GIVEN FOR FINANCIAL YEARS, OTHERS FOR CALENDAR YEARS- SOMETIMES THE LAND SOLD WAS USED TO MEAN LAND SALES, AT OTHERS TOTAL LAND TRANSACTIONS.

MR NEWBIGGING QUOTED TWO EXAMPLES :

* IN THE ECONOMIC BACKGROUND TO THE 1979 BUDGET. THE FIGURE FOR 1978 LAND SALES WAS GIVEN AS 52 000 SQUARE METRES-

IN 1980'S ECONOMIC BACKGROUND, 1978 LAND SALES HAD BECOME 181 000 SQUARE METRES" AND

*

IN THE 1979 BUDGET SPEECH THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY SAID THAT 249 ACRES OF LAND HAD BEEN SOLD BUT, 77 PARAGRAPHS LATER, THAT LAND SALES WERE ONLY 58 ACRES, BOTH WITH REFERENCE TO THE 1978/79 FINANCIAL YEAR.

IN THE LIGHT OF THESE DIFFICULTIES, HE SAID, HIS ANALYSIS WOULD ONLY SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING VERY TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS I

* ON LAND PRODUCTION, THE FORECAST FOR 1980/81 IS LOWER THAN

ACTUALLY ACHIEVED IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS AND THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY'S FORECASTS FOR ENSUING YEARS OF SOME 1 100 ACRES PER ANNUM ARE IN LINE WITH RECENT AND IMMEDIATELY PROSPECTIVE EXPERIENCE.

*

*

ON LAND SALES, THE FORECASTS FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS ARE ON AVERAGE SOME 40 PER CENT HIGHER THAN THE REVISED ESTIMATE FOR 1979/80 - ITSELF A RECORD - AND, GIVEN THE WELL-KNOWN PROBLEMS OF TURNING SUCH PLANS INTO REALITY, SHOULD BE REGARDED WITH SOME CAUTION AND

ON PUBLIC HOUSING, ACTUAL PRODUCTION HAS INCREASED BY NO LESS THAN 3.4 TIMES SINCE 1976/77 AND IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE BEEN WITHIN SIX PER CENT OF THE 35 000 UNITS TARGET IN THE YEAR NOW ENDING.

TURNING TO TRANSPORT, MR NEWBIGGING BELIEVED THE HONG KONG ISLAND EASTERN CORRIDOR PROJECT - THOUGH IMPORTANT - SHOULD NOT +DEFLECT US FROM AN EARLY DECISION ON A RAIL SYSTEM COVERING THE NORTH SIDE OF HONG KONG ISLAND+.

HE SAID, +MY RECOMMENDATION ON THIS IS QUITE STRAIGHTFORWARD AND SIMPLE - EVEN THOUGH IT MAY RUN CONTRARY TO THE INTEREST I DECLARE AS CHAIRMAN OF HONG KONG TRAMWAYS LTD WE SHOULD BORE A HOLE FOR AN UNDERGROUND RAILWAY FROM KENNEDY TOWN TO SHAU KI WAN, AND THE SOONER THE BETTER.+

THE MTR HAS PROVEN ITS ABILITY TO DELIVER A FUNCTIONING SYSTEM ON TIME AND UNDER BUDGET, HE NOTED.

+A SUBTERRANEAN SYSTEM HAS THE TWIN ADVANTAGES OF CAUSING LESS DISTURBANCE TO THE COMMUNITY AND CONSUMING LESS OF HONG KONG'S SCARCEST RESOURCE, LAND.

/+FURTHER DELAY