ENG-2004 — Page 298

248 Land, Public Works and Utilities

While government land is usually sold by public auction, sale by public tender is also adopted in certain circumstances, such as petrol filling station sites, or where the Government wishes to examine in advance detailed proposals, as in the tender of the former Marine Police Station site in Tsim Sha Tsui for commercial development which involved heritage preservation.

In appropriate cases, land may be made available by private treaty grant. In these direct grant cases, the premium charged varies from nominal (as in the case of non- profit making schools) to full market value (as in the case of public utility companies).

In October 2003, the Government released a statement on the implementation and consolidation of housing policy. This included the decision to resume the sale of land (suspended in November 2002) through the Application List System whereby interested parties make guaranteed bids for sites on the Application List in order to trigger an auction or tender.

During the year, five residential sites (with a total area of 5.86 hectares) and 10 sites for petrol filling stations (with a total area of 1.39 hectares) were sold at premium amounting to $18.89 billion.

In addition to land supply from the Government, existing privately held land leases can be amended, normally at a 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. Other exchanges of land may be entered into by the Government for various reasons ranging from the rectification of lot boundaries to the implementation of a town planning layout. During the year, 123 transactions involving lease modification and land exchange were concluded, involving a total of 363.48 hectares.

Land Management and Lease Enforcement

The Lands Department manages properties which reverted to government's ownership through voluntary surrender, resumption, expiry of government leases, and re-entry or vesting actions under various ordinances. During the year, 15 new properties have been taken over for management, 15 properties were disposed of and 10 let on short-term basis.

Identification of the parties responsible for maintenance of registered man-made slopes is also an ongoing exercise being undertaken by the Lands Department in association with the slope registration system operated by the Geotechnical Engineering Office of the Civil Engineering and Development Department. The public can visit Lands Department's website to identify the parties responsible for the maintenance of registered man-made slopes. The Slope Maintenance Responsibility Information System on the Internet has been enhanced with an option to display information in simplified Chinese characters in addition to traditional Chinese characters and English.

The Lands Department is responsible for maintaining about 17 100 man-made slopes on government land that are not allocated to other maintenance departments.