Development Bureau set up cross-departmental groups to streamline approval arrangements to speed up supply

In order to speed up the supply of housing, the Development Bureau set up an inter-departmental group to deal with proposals to streamline development control, and set up a special committee under the Land and Construction Advisory Committee to consult. The first batch of simplified approval arrangements will be introduced in the second half of the year.

The Development Bureau pointed out that the three departments of the Buildings Department, the Lands Department and the Planning Department are acting according to their respective functions and authorities to handle private development project applications. In order to rationalize the standards and technical definitions of the three departments, the Bureau of Planning and Lands Branch of the Development Bureau has established To supervise the group to formulate proposals to streamline the development of a control system.

Improve the transparency of the application process

According to the authorities, the team’s work includes simplifying the application requirements within the department, increasing the transparency of application procedures and time, and using the certification of professionals in the market; cross-divisional work includes the integration of the approval process, entrusting one of the departments to be responsible for the other. The department handles specific jobs.

In implementing the timetable for the simplification measures, the government has recently invited professional groups to join the special committee under the Turkish Council, aiming to launch the first streamlined approval arrangements in the second half of 2018.

In respect of the land premium and lease modification cases, the average processing time from the acceptance of valid applications to the execution of the contracts by the Lands Department was substantially extended from 146 days in 2013-14 to 246 days in 2017-18, a substantial increase of nearly 70%. , hinder the supply of land.

The Lands Department has implemented a number of measures to expedite the process, including the establishment of a land supply group to deal with land sales cases and large-scale contract amendment applications. It will also increase the manpower of the Building Plans Group and focus on the development plans for a relatively large number of flats.

On the other hand, Chinese-invested developers have been robbing land for high prices in recent years, causing legislators to focus on or push up property prices. The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Liu Yixiang stated that Hong Kong is a free market. As long as it is qualified and capable, there is no special mechanism to prevent Chinese investment from participating in the investment.