Police today (July 4) appealed to the public for information on a man who went missing in Lantau North.

     Siu San-chun, aged 56, went missing after he was last seen at a unit in Yuet Yat House, Yat Tung (II) Estate on June 28 night. His family made a report to Police on July 2.
                   
     He is about 1.78 metres tall and of medium build. He has a square face with yellow complexion and short black hair.

     Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the missing man or may have seen him is urged to contact the Regional Missing Persons Unit of New Territories South on 3661 1176 or 6103 4963 or email to rmpu-nts-2@police.gov.hk, or contact any police station.
 

  

     The Government announced today (July 4) the quarterly land sale programme for the second quarter of 2024-25, i.e. July to September 2024.

     The Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, said in the second quarter of 2024-25, the Government will sell by tender a residential site in Siu Lek Yuen in Sha Tin, producing a supply of about 570 flats. Among the sites put onto this year's Land Sale Programme, two residential sites are located in Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin. The first site, which is smaller in size, has already been put up for sale in the first quarter, and the Lands Department (LandsD) is conducting its tender. The site to be rolled out in the second quarter is the second residential site in the same locality.

     In addition, the Urban Renewal Authority plans to tender in this quarter its development project on Kai Tak Road/Sa Po Road, Kowloon City, expected to provide a supply of around 810 flats. 

     For private development and redevelopment projects, three projects capable of producing about 410 units are expected to complete their lease modifications in the second quarter. 

     "Taking all sources of land supply into account, the total private housing land supply in the second quarter of this financial year would support the development of around 1 790 units. Together with the supply from the first quarter, the total private housing land supply of the first half of this financial year is expected to support some 4 065 units, which is around 30 per cent of our annual target of private housing supply (13 200 units)," Ms Linn said. 

     As for industrial sites, the Government announced last week that it aims to put up for sale a site in Hung Shui Kiu in the second quarter. The site is around 77 700 square metres in area, and its maximum gross floor area could reach some 544 000 sq m. The site will be used for the development of multi-storey buildings for modern industries, mainly for logistics, and will provide certain floor area to the Government to assist brownfield operators affected by Government development clearance exercises. The Government is striving to complete the removal of the community isolation facilities now on the site, the drafting of land lease conditions and the formulation of tender arrangements as soon as possible. The target is to roll out the site for tender by the end of the second quarter. A two-envelope approach will be adopted in the tender, while the specific details on the ratio of non-premium and premium proposals as well as the floor area to be provided to the Government will be announced at the time of tender of the site.

     She continued, "The Government will work towards the annual supply target, continue to monitor the market situation and holistically consider supply from various sources to make fitting land disposal arrangements for each quarter and provide land to the market for economic and residential development in a paced manner."

     The list of the sites to be tendered in July to September 2024 is in the Annex. The actual tender timetable will be drawn up taking into account the progress of necessary preparatory work. The LandsD will announce the detailed land sale arrangements before individual sites are put up for tender.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     â€‹The spokesperson for Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital (HKBH) gave the following announcement today (July 4):
      
     An 89-year-old female patient in a medicine and geriatrics ward of HKBH was confirmed to be a Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) carrier on June 25. In accordance with prevailing infection control guidelines, the hospital has conducted contact tracing. Two more female patients (aged 80 and 81) were found to be VRE carriers. All patients have been discharged.
      
     The following enhanced infection control measures have already been adopted in the ward concerned:
     

1. isolation of VRE cases and application of stringent contact precautions;
2. enhanced environmental cleaning and disinfection; and
3. enhanced hand hygiene for staff and patients.

 
     The hospital will continue the enhanced infection control measures and closely monitor the situation of the ward concerned. The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority: 

     Regarding an earlier announcement on a cluster of patients infected with Human Metapneumovirus in a male medical ward, the spokesperson for North District Hospital made the following update today (July 4):

     Two more patients (aged 72 and 81) in the ward have presented with respiratory symptoms. Appropriate viral tests were arranged for the patients and their test results were positive for Human Metapneumovirus. The 72-year-old patient has been discharged after clinical assessment, while the 81-year-old patient is being treated in isolation and is in stable condition.

     Infection control measures have already been stepped up according to established guidelines. Droplet and contact precautions, hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection of the environment and equipment have also been strengthened. All other patients in the ward concerned are under close surveillance.

     The cases have been reported to the Hospital Authority Head Office and the Centre for Health Protection for necessary follow-up.

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, at a media session today (July 4) on the quarterly land sale programme for July to September 2024:
 
Reporter: For my first question, so far this year there's no successful tender for residential site in the first quarter of this year. Is that why the Government only sells one residential site in the upcoming quarter, without putting up any residential site on sale? Also, could you recap in English for what you have answered the reporter's question from Sing Tao, like the land sale income so far does not reach around 1 per cent of the Government's target. So what would the Government do in the latter half of this year to try to reach the annual target of the land sale income?
 
Secretary for Development: First of all on your first question, I think it is not correct to say that we do not have a successful tender of residential site this year. Because so far for the first quarter, we have rolled out one site for tender, also in Sha Tin, and the tender period is yet to close. It will close next Friday. So for that tender, it is ongoing.
 
     As to why we only roll out one site for tender in this quarter, which is the second quarter, another site in Sha Tin. I think in determining when and how many sites to be rolled out, we also have to look at the market situation. I think it is a hard reality that currently Hong Kong is still picking up in our economic pace. And while we have already put on a land sale programme for the year, a total of eight residential sites, we will also look at the market conditions in determining when to roll out each of those sites on the list. So having one site rolled out is a modest arrangement, but it is also a demonstration of the Government's commitment to roll out our residential sites in a regular and paced manner.
 
     As regards commercial sites, it is also a hard fact that the vacancy rate for the commercial floor area in the economy is now on the high side. According to some recent statistics, it is around 13 per cent. So taking into account the market condition, we think we have a reason not to roll out commercial sites in this quarter. But still, as I have mentioned before, we will put on our land sale programme, and we have done so, a number of commercial sites, and we will roll out the sites when we think it is a fit time to do so.

Reporter: How would you comment on recent property market sentiment, and have we seen a slowing down in transactions since the removing of all cooling measures? And also, inventory of unsold units still stands at a relatively high level. How would that potentially affect developers' sentiment in bidding the upcoming residential site?
 
Secretary for Development: I think on the property market, it's quite obvious that the sentiment has yet to pick up, basically because of the economic situation, both the external environment, the high interest rate, and the geopolitical issues will have an impact on our local economy. And it takes time for the property market to pick up, and that's understandable. So under these circumstances, we take a prudent manner and roll out our sites in a paced manner. For this quarter, rolling out one residential site and also rolling out one quite large industrial site in Hung Shui Kiu to support our commitment to develop industries in the Northern Metropolis. So we think overall this is a balanced and prudent arrangement.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)