Joint PLC Panel on Housing and Transport
Special Meeting on 17 March 1998
Achieving flat production targets
Introduction
The Chief Executive has set the production of not less than 85,000 flats a year as a long-term target of the Government. The Steering Committee on Land Supply for Housing (HOUSCOM), under the chairmanship of the Financial Secretary, is tasked to ensure and oversee this target level of production with a view to securing an even and adequate annual supply of flats for the foreseeable future.
2. HOUSCOM has compiled a 13-year flat production programme. The programme will be rolled forward every year and is divided into three separate segments -
- the first three years, starting from 1997-98, where land allocation is completed and construction is under way;
- the subsequent five years, where sites are being prepared for allocation or sale for housing developments; and
- the last five years, where new areas capable of developing sufficient land for meeting the annual flat production target are being identified.
3. HOUSCOM has compiled an inventory of all housing developments in the first two segments of the programme. It has also worked out "control lists" of flat production for different categories of housing for each year. These control lists serve as the main instrument for monitoring the flat production programme.
System of accountability
4. To expedite housing supply, HOUSCOM has devised a new accountability system for monitoring flat production and a well-structured mechanism for resolving speedily problems affecting housing projects at both central and district levels.
5. Three key departments - the Housing Department, the Lands Department and the Territory Development Department - are charged with the responsibility for taking forward the housing projects on the control lists. They monitor the projects through different stages from site delivery to flat completion, and co-ordinate the efforts of different departments involved.
6. The Territory Development Department is responsible for housing projects in New Towns, Strategic Growth Areas (SGAs) and major development areas until the concerned sites are handed over to the Lands Department for disposal for private housing production or to the Housing Department for public housing production. The Lands Department and the Housing Department are then responsible for these projects up to flat completion. For projects in other areas, the Housing and Lands Departments have overall responsibility for public housing and private housing projects respectively through all stages of the development process up to flat completion.
7. The roles of the three key departments in respect of the housing projects are summarised below -
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Projects within New Towns,
SGAs and major development areas
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Projects in other areas
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Public
housing
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Private
housing
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Public housing
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Private housing
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Site delivery
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TDD
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TDD
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HD
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LandsD
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Flat completion
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HD
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LandsD
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HD
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LandsD |
8. A directorate officer, or "Project Director", in the concerned lead departments oversees each of the housing projects in the flat production programme and is responsible for its timely completion.
Procedures for resolving site delivery and flat production problems
9. Each Project Director is responsible through his Head of Department to the Secretary for Housing and ultimately the Financial Secretary. He must keep strictly to the production timetable as indicated in the control lists, and endeavour to resolve problems holding up site delivery and flat production at the appropriate district forum. He escalates any insurmountable difficulties at the district level to his Head of Department and, if necessary, the Housing Project Action Team chaired by the Secretary for Housing for individual projects or the panel headed by the Secretary for Housing and Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands for quick resolution. HOUSCOM is the final decision making body for problems related to housing production that cannot otherwise be resolved. A chart showing the framework for solving problems related to housing projects is at Annex.
Monitoring flat production
10. Project Directors report every month on all housing projects in their portfolios to the Housing Bureau which will assume the central monitoring role for the overall flat production situation. Control lists are revised and updated regularly, and any potential departure from the established yearly flat production estimates is redressed as the highest priority.
