Tycoon Lee Shau-Kee Donates Land for Cheap Housing in an Unprecedented Move

Housing minister Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-Leung has confirmed that talks are under way with property tycoon Lee Shau-kee over his offer to donate farmland for building affordable housing in order to help young people with their housing needs.

Cheung said the offer was unprecedented: "No developer has donated land to the government like this. If an individual is really willing to donate, and the land released fits the urban planning requirements for housing use, the government should consider it."

Lee first raised the idea publicly in January. His initial proposal was to build homes of 300 square feet each on his company's plots in the New Territories and price them at HK$1 million each for first-time homebuyers, on the condition that the government would exempt him from paying the premium for changing of land use.

A Henderson spokeswoman later said that Lee had agreed to the government's counteroffer that he donate the land for the government to build the flats.

Professor Eddie Hui Chi-man of Polytechnic University's building and real-estate department said that it is better for the developer to donate the land to the government for development instead of building low-priced flats himself.

"If the government can obtain the sites and develop them, together with other infrastructure and facilities in the area, the town planning can be better," he said.

New World Development chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun, a supporter of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, has also indicated he is willing to donate land.