Use donated land well

Henderson Land Chairman Lee Shau-kee said on Monday he plans to donate a piece of farmland near Fanling, New Territories, for building affordable housing that will hopefully cost about HK$1 million per unit when completed. He added that it is one of seven land lots he has offered to the government, which chose the Fanling site for a feasibility study as a pilot project.

Business people donating land for affordable housing development can kill multiple birds with one stone, such as helping ease public resentment toward sky-high property prices, facilitating government plans to increase housing supply and, more importantly, "revitalizing" large swaths of idle farmland to be finally of some practical value.

Measuring more than 100,000 square feet, the Fanling lot can be home to about 20,000 to 30,000 people in 10,000 small apartments of around 300 square feet each at a price of HK$1 million, or HK$ 3,000 per square foot. If the pilot project is successful, it is expected to encourage speedier development of the other donated sites.

Some people have voiced suspicion that Lee is seeking to "make big gains with a trivial token of generosity". That is a perfect example of gauging a gentleman's heart with one's own mean measure. Lee has offered land specifically for affordable housing development to help young people become home owners. Once the government accepts his offer Lee will have no say in who should build the future apartments and how. So what gains can there be for Lee exactly?

Besides, if housing developments on the donated lands actually lead to urbanization of the surrounding areas and boosted the property market growth, its "by-effect" would mean more housing supply anyway. Shouldn't we be happy to see Hong Kong's chronic affordable housing shortage eased this way however "trivial" the result may seem?

This is an excerpted translation of a Ta Kung Pao editorial published on June 4.

(HK Edition 06/05/2013 page1)