Developers could pay lower land premiums for two of three large sites in Hong Kong under a pilot scheme in the Northern Metropolis if they surrendered industrial sites in urban areas or even relocated facilities to the parcels, the government suggested on Tuesday.
The Development Bureau floated the incentive as it invited industry players to submit expressions of interest by the end of March before rolling out tenders later in 2025 and 2026 for three parcels of land each sized between 10 and 20 hectares in the northern New Territories.
Under the pilot scheme, developers can pay a lower land premium for conducting site formation work and building public facilities for the government, while keeping private residential plots for profit.
The incentive aims to promote modern industrial development at two sites in Hung Shui Kiu and Fanling North.
The Hung Shui Kiu site has 45 per cent of its 12.5 hectares reserved for “enterprise and technology park” purposes including commercial and convention uses, while one-third of the 15.9 hectares of the Fanling North one is earmarked for logistics facilities.
Noting that many industrial facilities were located in urban areas, the bureau asked if developers would be more interested in joining the bid if they could pay less land premium for surrendering such sites in urban areas to the government, or even relocating their operation to the two parcels.