ENG-2001 — Page 258

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HOUSING

private sector, depends on the economic factors and the commercial decisions of developers and consumers.

Housing Supply

Flat production in 2001 was 100 000. This comprised 26 000 flats in the private sector, 51 000 public rental housing flats and 23 000 subsidised home ownership flats.

Flat Production and Land Disposal Programmes

The Housing Bureau maintains a 13-year programme of flat production potential to facilitate the planning and monitoring of housing production. The programme is divided into three parts. The first part comprises the first three years when construction of housing development is under way. The second part comprises the subsequent five years when new sites are being prepared for allocation or sale for housing development. The third part comprises a further five years when new sites for housing development are being identified.

In February, the Government announced a five-year land sale and development programme for the period 2001-02 to 2005-06, including land for housing. An application system was introduced in 1999, allowing developers to apply for the sale of sites on a reserve list.

Planning Studies

The Government completed a feasibility study on an extension of the Tseung Kwan O new town in 2001 and identified opportunities for an additional production potential of 18 000 flats. The Government is conducting and reviewing another seven studies to identify potential sites for housing development. Four of these studies. relate to the New Development Areas of North-West New Territories, North-East New Territories, Hong Kong Island South and Western District Development. These studies involve an anticipated increase in population of about 0.35 million by 2016. The remaining three studies involve 40 hectares of land capable of producing about 13 000 flats.

Supporting Infrastructure

To facilitate the timely provision of infrastructure to support the housing programme, a control list of housing-related infrastructure projects has been compiled and a flexible financial arrangement for speeding up their implementation has been put in place. Fifty-five key projects have been identified, and three projects have been completed. The total cost of the remaining 52 projects is $15.6 billion. In the five-year period from 2001-02 to 2005-06, $6.5 billion will be spent on these projects.

Monitoring Flat Production

The Housing Department, the Lands Department, the Territory Development Department and the Civil Engineering Department are responsible for taking forward individual housing projects in the first eight years of the 13-year programme of flat production potential. The Planning Department is responsible for housing projects in the last five years of the programme.

Flat production is monitored by the Steering Committee on Land Supply for Housing, chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, using a well-structured