Pro-Beijing politicians float aggressive proposals to boost land supply for public housing in Hong Kong including fully taking back golf course and rezoning prime commercial site

Pro-establishment politicians have floated aggressive proposals to boost land supply for public housing in Hong Kong, including building flats on top of the West Kowloon high-speed rail station, a week after Beijing showed support for their call for the government to take back land from developers.

The recommendations, submitted to the Development Bureau by the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions on Friday, came as a lawmaker representing the city’s developers blasted the government for trying to press ahead with a vacancy tax without adequate discussion in the legislature.

Tensions between the administration and developers have intensified as Beijing has put pressure on property tycoons to help ease the city’s crippling political crisis and social unrest.

Last week, state media specifically endorsed a proposal by the city’s largest pro-Beijing party for Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to invoke the Lands Resumption Ordinance and take back large swathes of rural land lying unused as a quick option to tackle the shortage of sites for housing.

With district council elections in November and some suggesting that the unaffordable property market is a cause of the unrest, originally triggered by a now-shelved extradition bill, which has gripped Hong Kong for more than three months, political parties are keen to offer solutions for housing issues.

Hong Kong is consistently rated the world’s least affordable property market.

On Friday, federation lawmaker Alice Mak Mei-kuen said the ordinance should be used to take back all 172 hectares of the Fanling golf course for housing, rather than the 32 hectares currently endorsed by the government following a recommendation from a land supply task force.

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Dubbed the “imperial sword”, the ordinance allows the government to forcibly take back private land for an established public purpose.

“None of us is so naive to believe using the ordinance to increase housing can solve the political unrest alone. But the protests have made us reflect on how some social problems need more determination to solve,” Mak said.

She also suggested rezoning the commercial space above the West Kowloon high-speed rail station for developing public housing, which she estimated could provide 8,000 flats, each of 400 sq ft.

The six-hectare West Kowloon plot opened to bids on Friday as a commercial site and was expected to fetch a record price of about HK$90 billion (US$11.5 billion). The tender will close on November 22.

“It is a pity that we heard the site has been offered for bids [on Friday]. If the secretary for development is willing to accept our suggestion, then this West Kowloon land can provide 8,000 units,” Mak said.

A major developer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also floated a similar proposal under which public housing could account for half of the flats built on the site.

“If I were the chief executive in this crisis, just change this into housing as Hong Kong needs more supply,” the developer said.

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Lee Wing-tat, chairman of the think tank Land Watch, said it would not be a proper planning approach if the whole site was rezoned to build public housing.

“I have no objection to building public housing on top of MTR stations. But it would be better to have a mix of public and private housing on such prime sites,” said Lee, a former Democratic Party lawmaker specialising in land policy.

He added that there were vacant sites near Nam Cheong station in Sham Shui Po which could be used to build public housing.

Lee believed that the FTU put forward such a proposal as it needed to show that it cared about the housing needs of lower-middle income residents amid growing calls for tackling housing crisis.

Stanley Wong Yuen-fai, chairman of the Task Force on Land Supply, said sites on top of MTR stations in urban areas were rarely used for building public housing in the past two decades.

“Whether it is feasible in terms of planning to devote all of the plot on top of the express rail terminus in West Kowloon needs to be studied carefully by planning officials,” Wong said.

He said most of the public views collected during the task force’s consultation on land supply last year supported taking back part of the Fanling golf course.

“If we take back the whole golf course, we need to consider where to relocate the existing course,” he said.

Separately, lawmaker Abraham Razack, of the pro-establishment Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, said he would write to the president of the Legislative Council demanding more time for scrutiny of the “vacancy tax bill” to be introduced next month.

Razack was speaking after the government said it would submit the Rating (Amendment) Bill, better known as the vacancy tax bill, to lawmakers when Legco reconvenes in October after its summer break.

“We have called for them not to use the one-size-fits-all approach, particularly for flats priced over HK$10 million (US$1.3 million),” he said. “But they haven’t listened … what is Legco in the eyes of this government?”

Under the plan, developers would have to pay a tax equivalent to two years’ rental income if they leave a newly completed flat empty for more than half the year. A public consultation started last Friday.

The Real Estate Developers Association has urged the government to consider putting the tax on hold, saying it would intensify a slowdown in the property market already buffeted by the US-China trade war and social turmoil which looked set to enter its 16th consecutive weekend.

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The vacancy tax was announced in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address last year, and is seen as a populist measure in a city that struggles to provide affordable housing.

It would target all newly completed flats left unsold and not rented out for more than six months in a year. Flats would be considered finished a year after the developer obtained an occupation permit. The proposed tax rate is equivalent to two years of rental income, calculated by government specialists and based on market rates.

Officials plan to bring the law into effect three months after Legco passes it, but the date is yet to be confirmed.

Additional reporting by Gary Cheung

This article Pro-Beijing politicians float aggressive proposals to boost land supply for public housing in Hong Kong including fully taking back golf course and rezoning prime commercial site first appeared on South China Morning Post

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