Land supply to increase despite market situation
Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Saturday said that the government is persistent in increasing land supply, regardless of the market situation.  Speaking on an RTHK programme, he said he was not worried that there would be more unsuccessful tenders in the administration's land sale efforts. "No matter how the real estate market is, there are always cycles, ups and downs, but for the government, the most important thing is to persist in creating land, regardless of market conditions, because creating land takes time," he said.  "After creating plots of land, we don't necessarily need to sell them immediately. We can have land reserves. In other words, when the market is hot, we can put these plots out [to tender]. The control lies with the government." Chan emphasised that the land supply is sufficient, and that the government can increase the supply at any time if necessary, adding that there will be around 110,000 units available in the next three or four years. With regard to the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands project, Chan said the delay of two or three years is just a "relatively general" estimate and that the delay would not go beyond that. He added that it would not have a major impact on land supply.