Task Force Submits Land Options For Public Views

The Task Force on Land Supply rolled out a five-month public consultation on Thursday, asking people to comment on 18 options it has drawn up for finding land for housing.

Record-shattering house prices in the city have sparked criticism that land supply is too limited, and more needs to be done to free up land and build more homes.

Some of the task force's proposals are contentious, such as building on the fringes of country parks, reclaiming land outside Victoria Harbour, and developing land now under private recreational leases, such as the golf courses in Fanling.

Other options include the development of brownfield sites, caverns or underground spaces; and new developments in the New Territories and on Lantau.

The consultation paper also flags up some conceptual ideas, such as relocating the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals or building on top of them.

The chairman of the task force, Stanley Wong, said there is no single, “painless” solution to the 1,200-hectare land shortage estimated by the government.

He said different stakeholders are bound to be affected by – or in some cases benefit directly from – some of the options.

In order to allay public concerns over possible underhand deals in potential public-private partnership arrangements, Wong said an independent body should be established to oversee such projects.

He said that the task force has no particular preference for any one of the options, and will compile a report to the government at the conclusion of the public consultation.

The Chief Executive Carrie Lam appointed the 30-member task force last year to look at Hong Kong’s land supply problems and identify the best solutions available.

Lam had said at that time that the objective was to build consensus in society and to draw up a broad framework of recommendations on the overall land supply for further consideration by the government.