Policy Address
28. As custodian of “Government, Institution or Community” (GIC) sites, the Government should strive to optimise the use of these sites under the policy objective of identifying land to increase housing supply. We will review over 300 GIC sites with a total area of some 300 hectares currently earmarked for standalone public facility, and put forward concrete proposals for sites with no development plan, including developing multi-purpose public facility buildings under the “single site, multiple use” model, developing residential projects and public facilities under a mixed development mode, or retaining them for specific government facilities. Meanwhile, to assist non-governmental organisations to optimise their under-utilised sites, we will facilitate the redevelopment of the low-rise buildings on these sites by providing support and introducing mixed residential, education and welfare uses. This will not only provide modernised facilities, but also increase the supply of various types of housing, including elderly housing, youth hostels or transitional housing, etc.
29. The above-mentioned projects regarding the development of existing land, the over 1 200 hectares of new reclaimed land plus a total of around 950 hectares of planned NDAs, as well as over 80 sites that are in the progress of or pending rezoning to housing uses are all important sources of land supply. In reality, however, every land development task is a challenge. Through the regular updating of the “Hong Kong 2030+: Towards a Planning Vision and Strategy Transcending 2030” and the annual review of supply target under the Long Term Housing Strategy, we will report to the public our implementation progress. We are determined to create home ownership opportunities for people of different income groups such that they will happily make Hong Kong their home. In particular, we will strive to reduce the average waiting time for PRH for families and elderly singletons to meet the three-year target of flat allocation. I sincerely appeal to you to support our work in land supply and housing.
