ENG-2001 — Page 287

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

value of the property at the date of grant, adjusted in step with any changes in the rateable value thereafter,

Every year, the Lands Department announces a one-year Land Sale Programme and a four-year Land Development Programme, which cover land for housing and non-housing development in a five-year period. The Land Sale Programme includes a detailed programme for public land auctions and tenders. Since April 1999, a new procedure for land sale by application has been introduced to provide flexibility in allowing the market to determine the amount of additional land required to meet market demand.

During the year, 10 sites for private housing with a total area of 5.36 hectares were sold. Five sites for the Home Ownership Scheme and five sites for the Tenant Purchase Scheme, with total areas of 17.54 and 36.08 hectares respectively, were granted to the Hong Kong Housing Authority. One site for the Flat-for-Sale Scheme, with an area of 1.12 hectares, was granted to the Hong Kong Housing Society. Other major land grants included a 22.4-hectare site for the power station at Lamma Island. In addition to the Land Sale Programme, the existing large number of privately held leases can be amended, normally at premium, on lease-holders' initiatives to provide for a more intensive or different type of development in accordance with the prevailing planning intentions. These amendments are effected by either lease modification or land exchange. During the year, 163 such transactions were concluded, involving a total of 241.18 hectares.

Land Management and Lease Enforcement

The Task Force (Black Spots) (TFB) was set up in 1994 to clean up environmental black spots resulting from open storage and industrial undertakings in the New Territories which have been in existence since 1991. During the year, 306 sites covering 35.10 hectares were improved, making a cumulative total of 1775 sites. comprising 224.76 hectares of land.

The TFB provided support in the identification of suitable new sites for uses linked to container freight/open storage activities and disposed of two sites. It also promoted improvements to the infrastructure in areas zoned for open storage related uses and co-ordinated government departmental actions in the prevention and control of illegal dumping of waste.

In 1996, the Lands Department commissioned a consultancy study, Systematic Identification of the Maintenance Responsibility of Slopes (SIMAR), to identify the parties responsible for maintenance of about 54 000 man-made slopes across the HKSAR. The study was completed in 2000 with the production of a register showing the maintenance responsibility of individual slopes covered by the study. The public can have easy access to the SIMAR register at the computer terminals in the Slope Maintenance Responsibility Information Centre of the Lands Department and on the Internet at the Lands Department web site. The SIMAR register is also now fully bilingual.

The Lands Department is responsible for the maintenance of about 16 000 man- made slopes on Government land with no identifiable maintenance agent. Geotechnical engineers of the Slope Maintenance Section of the Lands Department have so far arranged inspections of about 10 000 of these slopes with the assistance of private consultants. Upon completion of these inspections, maintenance works are

231