（By Zheng Zhizu）
Chief Governor Leung Chun-ying yesterday expressed the vacancy rate of Hong Kong office building, commercial building and floor style factory was the lowest at the end of last year for 5 years, showing the highly demand of current Hong Kong commercial and industrial building. He emphasized, land increasing not only need to consider the housing demand, but also want to balance the requirement of commerce, to avoid the economic developing competitiveness weakening and then obstructing social development. Hong Kong government formulate plans in short, medium and long term to increase land supply, including moderately increasing development intensity and moving government building to rise commercial floor area in short time.
Leung Chun-ying stated to commercial participants of short, medium and long term policies increasing land supply, when he made a speech on the joint lunch yesterday. He pointed, public had made common consensus on the essence of the problem and direction to solve it, and government would also pay attention to commercial land supply when dealing with housing land demand. He expressed: " Operators face difficulties of short term lease, rising rent of shop, factory and office. Hong Kong will come across difficult jobs, high pressure for commercial industry, economic developing competitiveness weakening and social development being obstructed, if we not adopt short term supply measure and long term plan.
The vacancy rate of commercial building hit the floor of 5 years.
As for the lack of current commercial building like the short of residential property, Leung Chun-ying believed " solving land lack can't only depend on rebuilding factory." He pointed further by quoting data that, commercial and industrial building added usage amount last year was totally up to 7.6 million sq ft, with 0.15 million sq meters for industry building, 0.16 million sq meters for commercial building and 0.18 sq meters for office building, equivalently to 7 of Jardine House, while their vacancy rate last year was the lowest in 5 years. In addition, Leung Chun-ying specially pointed, non-economic activities like religion, international school expansion, welfare groups and so on also need more land.
According to the experience of the past 20 years, Hong Kong need to supply land equivalent to the new town area in Sha Tin, to meet the land demand from housing, economic development, social development and other aspects, Leung Chun-ying expressed. He sketched government's many measures to supply land, including moderately increasing development intensity to rise commercial floor area in short time, supplying 4 million sq maters office floor area by starting commercial and trade subzone in Kowloon East, centre Kai Tak developing zone, Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay, and moving current government facilities to add about 0.5 million sq meters of floor area.
Locations for current Trade and Industry Department and Legal Department will be changed into commercial use.
Besides, Leung Chun-ying expressed government planed to change the government building and land in core area into commercial use, including moving Trade and Industry Department out of the building in Mong Kok and transferring Legal Department's office to former location of Hong Kong Government Offices and resetting three government buildings at Wan Chai seaside by stages. Government is planning to turn the government land in core area into commercial use, including the parking place in Murray Road in Hong Kong Central District and Rumsey Street parking lot in Sheung Wan. He added, more new developing zones and towns can meet the demand from booming economic and industry, such as Chek Lap Kok Airport north business zone, New Development Zone in New Territories northeast and Hung Shui Kiu, at the meantime government will plan and research the potential development in New Territories north to check if there can be built on a new town like the on in Sheung Shui.
