Ryan IpandMonte Mu

Solving Hong Kong’s chronic housing shortage requires a broad approach

The government needs to adopt a multi-pronged approach to increasing land supply, including reclamation off the east of Lantau Island

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Aerial view of Hong Kong's Kowloon peninsula. Photo: Roy Issa

Ryan IpandMonte Mu

Published: 9:31pm, 2 Mar 2019Updated: 9:35pm, 2 Mar 2019

Two of the most important sources for Hong Kong’s medium to long-term housing supply are the Kwu Tung North and Fanling North New Development Areas (NDAs) in the northeast New Territories, especially for public housing. These areas are also key to the government’s multi-pronged approach to increasing land supply.

The Development Bureau recently submitted an application to the Legislative Council’s panel on development for HK$46.9 billion (US$6 billion) of funding for the main work, detailed design and special ex gratia cash allowance for the development of Kwu Tung North and Fanling North. As most panel members expressed support, the application entered the next stage of discussion at the public works subcommittee. This would signal concrete progress for this project which has already taken more than three decades.

The road to developing Kwu Tung North and Fanling North has been bumpy. Although the government’s “The Planning and Development Study on North East New Territories” in 1998 set out the early framework, the development process was interrupted when Hong Kong was hit by the financial crisis and then Sars.

In 2007, the government’s “Hong Kong 2030: Planning Vision and Strategy” document proposed developing the New Territories to help meet long-term housing needs. In 2008, the “North East New Territories New Development Areas Planning and Engineering Study” finally put the development of Kwu Tung North and Fanling North on the agenda. After some 10 years of research, planning, consultation and discussion, the project is ready to take off.

But the road ahead is still long. The Development Bureau estimated that if the project could get underway in the second half of this year, the main work would take 12 years, until 2031, to complete. The prolonged time frame will lead to uncertainties, so the government should redouble its effort to manage the project.

The bureau’s documents showed the project could supply a total of 71,800 units for more than 180,000 residents. The first phase will have 21,000 units, of which 86 per cent, or nearly 18,000, will be for public housing. This makes up 6 per cent of the 10-year supply target of 315,000 public housing units. The first homes are expected to be ready in 2023 at the soonest.