Hong Kong to keep expanding land bank, but not to offset deficit: Paul Chan
Hong Kong will press on with building up its land bank but adopt a cautious stance on selling the sites, the finance chief has said, rejecting the notion the government is rushing to find and sell parcels to offset the
budget deficit
Financial Secretary
Paul Chan Mo-po also said in a recent interview that the government would address plans to build artificial islands off Lantau waters 'later', despite calls from developers to halt the project immediately.
'We will not stop [creating land] because of property prices and the market; we will keep producing land,' he said. 'Having created the land, we don't need to sell it immediately. It can form part of our land bank.
'The message is that the government has land. But how and when to sell it, we will act according to market conditions. At the moment, it is of utmost importance to manage expectations and confidence … we will put [the land] on the market cautiously.
'Some have suspected that the government hopes to sell land to cover its budget deficit. That's not the case.'
Chan revealed a deficit of HK$87.2 billion (US$11.1 billion) in his budget in February and outlined a series of measures to cut public expenditure and raise revenue to address the fiscal challenge.
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