Land premium to be updated yearly: Chui

‘The government will do its best to conclude still this year the revision’ of the land and the urban planning laws, Chui Sai On pledged after a visit to the Tap Seac New Year fair

The calculation formula for land premiums will be updated yearly to make sure it keeps up with the market situation, the Chief Executive promised on Sunday. Fernando Chui Sai On also pledged to speed up the revision of the land and urban planning laws.
Lawmakers have regularly complained that the premium paid by concessionaires of public land was too low.
The issue led to accusations of collusion between the government and developers, namely after the approval of a land swap deal with the former owner of the Seac Pai Van quarry, in Coloane, where a public housing complex with about 6,800 units is being built.
Speaking to journalists, the head of the MSAR acknowledged that the land premium “was an issue that society paid great attention to”.
A new calculation formula was introduced last November, with projects required to pay 24 to 93 percent more and the biggest increase on plots earmarked for residential high-rise buildings. The land premium had remained unchanged since 2004.
From now on a yearly update will take into account “the changes taking place in order for this [the land premium] to be closer to the market situation,” Chui said after presiding over the opening ceremony of the Year of the Dragon celebrations.
In addition “the government will do its best to conclude still this year the revision” of the land and the urban planning law, he pledged on the sidelines of a visit to the Tap Seac fair and the two firecracker areas.
The new land law is set to make illegal occupation of lands a criminal offence drawing stricter penalties, the Lands, Public Works and Transport said three weeks ago. The urban planning law is also slated to reach the Legislative Assembly this year, with legal experts warning that the two laws are closely linked.

Political reform

Meanwhile the Chief Executive has promised to include different opinions on the political reform report they will submit to China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), next month.
“We collected a lot of opinions [during the eight consultation sessions] and we’ll do a comprehensive analysis. But I reassure once again that my report will for sure include all the different opinions. We welcome them and will put them in the report to the NPC,” Chui said.
Asked about claims that the government has deleted opinions submitted to the political reform consultation’s website, he promised that the second consultation round in March would go more smoothly.
During this second round the public will be able to discuss a preliminary proposal, after the NPC decides on “how the proposals for the two election methods should be made,” the secretary for Administration and Justice explained earlier this month.
Florinda Chan also spoke to the media on Sunday but didn’t say whether or not there would be more consultation sessions for the general public until the end of the first round, on Tuesday.
The official recalled that the only session open to the public was moved to the 800-seat grand auditorium of the Macau Cultural Centre but only 600 people signed up and just 500 attended.