Hong Kong’s underused military land a potential goldmine – but a minefield for government
HONG KONG: As Hong Kong seeks more land to help ease a worsening housing crisis, some lawmakers and activists are urging officials to take a fresh look at little-used swathes of more than US$100 billion worth of real estate controlled by the Chinese military.
The Hong Kong garrison of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) still occupies some 19 sites across the global financial hub it inherited from the British military when the former colony was handed back to China in 1997.
While several sites, such as the high-rise barracks near the Central financial district, are neon-lit and busy, others appear overgrown, rundown and little used, according to Reuters investigations, activists and diplomats monitoring military activity.
The parcels range from mansions in the exclusive Peak district and once-luxurious officers’ apartments in Hong Kong and Kowloon, to firing ranges and decades-old Nissen huts across the semi-rural New Territories, near the border with mainland China.
With Hong Kong property prices at record highs, Denis Ma, head of research at property consultancy JLL, said a mid-range estimate of the total land value could reach HK$1.06 trillion (US$135 billion).
Based on the recent sale of a nearby plot, the Central site alone could be worth US$29 billion and deliver 4.5 million square feet of floor space if developed into a commercial site.
Suitable residential land among the 19 sites could yield 65,000 familysized apartments, Ma added.
Across Hong Kong, the PLA occupies some 2,700 hectares (6,670 acres), according to local government records, nearly half the size of Manhattan.
A lack of housing is a source of rising social and political tension in Hong Kong, one of the world’s most expensive property markets where owning even a 600-square foot flat is beyond the reach of many families.
A recently formed government task force on land supply acknowledged public calls for some military land to be returned for housing, but its chairman has said their development potential “may not be large”.
The task force’s initial meetings have instead advocated developing 1,400 hectares of new land through reclamation.
The preference for costly reclamation over re-purposing PLA land has led some to believe the Hong Kong government does not want to confront the Beijing leadership over a potentially sensitive issue of national security. — Reuters