Hong Kong rural leaders seek changes in the law to make it easier to sell ancestral land, ease housing shortage
- Heung Yee Kuk proposals on how to make better use of ‘tso/tong’ land in New Territories receive ‘positive’ response from Chief Executive Carrie Lam
- Ideas include lowering threshold for sale or land exchanges with villagers if government needs the plots for development purposes
Hong Kong’s rural leaders have called for changes in the law to make it easier to sell ancestral land as part of proposals on the better use of New Territories sites to ease the city’s housing shortage.
These include lowering the threshold for the sale of ancestral land, or an exchange of sites with villagers in the event the government needed the plots for housing purposes.
Speaking afterwards, kuk chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung, also a Legislative Council member, said they had received a “positive” response from Lam.
“If the government can make better use of ‘tso/tong’ land to increase housing supply, it can help resolve one of the deep-rooted social problems of Hong Kong,” said Lau, referring to the city’s housing shortage and high flat prices.
