At its meeting today (October 21), the Land and Development Advisory Committee (LDAC) was briefed by the Development Bureau (DEVB) on major initiatives related to the bureau in the 2021 Policy Address, and by the Planning Department on the final report on the Hong Kong 2030+ Study.
Members welcomed the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy as a visionary conceptual plan to drive Hong Kong's development and foster Hong Kong's integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Members noted that looking ahead, the Lantau Tomorrow Vision, together with near-shore reclamation projects (including Ma Liu Shui, Lung Kwu Tan and Tuen Mun West), and other ongoing/planned large-scale projects, would be expected to produce 4 100 hectares of land, sufficient to meet the long-term shortfall of around 3 000 hectares of land as estimated in the final report of the Hong Kong 2030+ with reasonable buffer for contingency needs. Members also applauded the Government's persistent efforts in identifying land which had begun to bear fruit, with 350 hectares of land identified for building about 330 000 public housing units and 170 hectares of land secured for private housing development for the coming 10 years.
Members also welcomed the long list of measures announced in the 2021 Policy Address to speed up land supply and build a liveable city, including review of "Green Belt" zones, unlocking Tso/Tong land, standardisation of land premium assessment of land exchange applications in New Development Areas (NDAs), streamlining statutory procedures for land development, and expediting urban renewal by commencing district planning studies on Tsuen Wan and Sham Shui Po and reviewing the compulsory sale threshold. Members urged for early implementation of these initiatives.
Going forward, Members considered that streamlining of development processes and inter-departmental co-operation would be key to ensuring that the development proposals set out in the 2021 Policy Address could be implemented efficiently and effectively. They gave suggestions on various specific aspects, such as financing arrangements for the initiatives, giving due regard to ecological conservation and landscaping needs, the importance of adopting a transport-led approach at the early stage, stakeholder engagement to better understand the community's needs and garner support, etc. Members also considered that the Government should continue to step up its efforts in increasing land supply through land resumption contemporaneously to meet the public's expectation. The DEVB would take these views into account when taking forward the initiatives.
Members were briefed on the finalised territorial spatial development strategy in the Hong Kong 2030+, which sought to provide a strategic spatial planning framework for future planning, land and infrastructure development as well as the shaping of the built and natural environment of Hong Kong beyond 2030. Members welcomed the adoption in the Hong Kong 2030+ of a more visionary, forward-looking and capacity-creating approach in assessing the overall demand and supply of land over a 30-year period from 2019 to 2048 and recommending a series of solution spaces to meet the estimated shortfall in land while providing a reasonable buffer to cater for uncertainties. They suggested that the Government continues to keep in view the changes in circumstances such as evolution of living patterns and climate change, facilitate better matching of the residential population and job opportunities in NDAs, consider engaging cross-sector partners to mobilise collective efforts of the community in implementation, and put in place effective mechanism to track progress.
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