(Translation)

(Letterhead of Office of the Honourable Y F Hui, OBE, JP,
Member of the Provisional Legislative Council)

29th July, 1997

Mr Dominic Wong
Secretary for Housing

Dear Mr Wong,

Housing Panel Meeting to be held on 19th August 1997 Agenda Item IV. Pledge for annual provision of 85,000 flats

In preparation for the meeting of the Housing Panel to be held on 19th August 1997, I would like to request the Administration to provide me and members of the Panel with a written reply to the following questions before the meeting:

At the Joint Meeting of the Housing Panel and the Planning, Lands and Works Panel, the Government advised that if private developers (developers) could not complete the construction of the superstructures of the properties on land for residential purpose which they have bought from the Government for three years, they would be subject to fine to be imposed by the Lands Department. For serious delays, the Government might resume the land in question. In this connection, will the Government inform this Panel of:

1. whether such penalties as fine and resumption of the land in question will be stipulated in the land lease, if so, what are the details of such provisions;

2. the criteria for instituting such penalties as fine and land resumption;

3. the number of developers who have been punished, the amount of money involved, the total area of land involved and resumed by the Government, and the shortfall of residential flats as a result of the delay in construction;

4. whether the land leases concerned will explicitly state that developers cannot pass the additional costs arising from the above penalties onto consumers, if not, why not;

5. whether concrete monitoring measures are in place to ensure that the annual production target of 85,000 flats can be achieved; and

6. whether remedial measures are in place to cope with and make up for the shortfall if the production target cannot be achieved?

(Signed)
Yin Fat HUI

cc: Chairman and members of the Housing Panel