Chief Executive CY Leung will set up the Lantau Development Office to take forward development on Lantau Island.
Delivering his 2016 Policy Address today, Mr Leung said Lantau is an important component of the Government's medium to long-term land supply strategy, so it will set up a dedicated Lantau Development Office as soon as possible.
The Government will conduct a public consultation in the first half of this year before promulgating a blueprint for Lantau's development, which will set out the indicative implementation timetable for related projects.
"Housing is still the most important livelihood issue we have to address. Exorbitant property prices, high rentals, small living spaces, the proliferation of subdivided flats and record high public rental housing applications all tell us clearly that we must tackle the housing problem with resolve and perseverance."
The Housing Authority and the Housing Society will, over the next five years, produce 97,100 public housing units, of which 76,700 will be public rental housing units and 20,400 will be subsidised sale flats. They will put up 3,700 flats for pre-sale this year, and another batch of 2,600 flats will be put up for pre-sale next year.
"Last year I proposed that as a pilot scheme the Housing Authority should identify suitable flats among its public rental housing developments under construction for sale to eligible Green Form applicants to further improve the housing ladder.
"The Housing Authority has selected the public rental housing development at San Po Kong for this purpose and worked out the implementation details. Around 860 flats are expected to be provided for pre-sale in the second half of this year and for occupation in mid-2017."
On private housing, projected supply from the first-hand residential property market for the coming three to four years is 87,000 units, a record high since the first release in September 2004 of the quarterly statistics on supply.
In the short and medium term, the Government will continue to rezone sites, increase development intensity and conduct holistic land use reviews to make optimal use of land. By the end of last year, the Town Planning Board had approved applications for relaxing the development intensity of 41 housing sites, which will lead to an additional supply of about 7,750 units.
"The Government is determined to identify more sites, and will consider slightly expanding the area of certain sites to generate an additional supply of about 17,000 units, 90% of which will be public housing units."
For medium and long-term land supply the Government will make vigorous efforts to take forward new development and extension projects in the New Territories and on Lantau Island, with a view to supplying housing units and promoting the local economy.
"The Government is proceeding in full steam to take forward projects relating to the development of new development areas (NDAs) and the extension of new towns. It is estimated that Kwu Tung North and Fanling North NDAs, Tung Chung New Town Extension, Hung Shui Kiu NDA and Yuen Long South Development can provide over 197,000 units for occupation starting seven years from now."
