政壇：睇社論學英文：重建公僕舊樓 聊補無米之炊

特首梁振英「拍心口」保證房屋政策是施政重中之重，強調要「全民搵地、寸土必爭」。其實，當局除了拓展鄉郊土地和改變土地用途，亦應透過重建及提高地積比率等方法增加土地。公務員建屋合作社坐擁多幅市區優質地皮，正是可供重建發展的土地資源。

公務員建屋合作社是港府過去為公務員提供的房屋福利之一，自上世紀五十年代推出以來，共有逾二百多幢舊樓，總樓面面積約九十萬平方呎，若全部重建，估計可額外提供約一萬二千個面積六百平方呎的市區單位，有助紓緩房屋問題。

根據過往經驗，發展商啟動收購公務員合作社舊樓過程繁冗。惟時移勢易，過去看起來困難重重的事，不代表現在做不到，公務員合作社樓宇大多在上世紀六、七十年代落成，設施不足，部分更沒有升降機，不少業主年事已高，出入行動不便，願意接受發展商收購業權，遷往居屋或私人樓宇安享晚年。當局應適時檢討現行安排，拆牆鬆綁，加快落實重建項目。倘若發展商對重建意欲不高，但多數業主均有重建意願，應考慮由市建局以類似「需求主導計劃」形式介入，提出收購條件，及時提升土地效益。

Redevelop civil servants’ quarters in order to make up for land shortage

The Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying assures the public that housing policy will be the most important task among all his policy agenda, stressing that every possible inch of land will be made available. In fact, other than developing rural areas and changing land uses, the Government can also increase the supply of land by redevelopment and raising plot ratio. The many lots of premium urban land owned by the Civil Servants Co-operative Building Society Scheme (CBS) are also a great land resource for redevelopment.

The CBS was launched by the Hong Kong Government as a form of civil servants' housing benefit. Since its introduction in the 1950s, more than 200 buildings have been constructed under the scheme with a total floor area of almost 900,000 square feet. If all of them are redeveloped, it is estimated that an extra 12,000 600-square-feet flats can be provided in the urban area, which will help to relieve the housing problem.

According to past experiences, the process for developers to acquire these old quarters for civil servants was lengthy and cumbersome. However, times have changed; what looked impossibly arduous in the past may be achievable today. Most of the CBS buildings were completed in the 1960s and 70s. They lack facilities, and some are not even equipped with elevators. As many of the owners are now elderly people, it is very difficult for them to climb up and down the stairs. They are more than willing to accept developers' offers so that they can move to Home Ownership Scheme or private housing units for a more comfortable retirement life. The Government should review the present arrangement in a timely manner and relax the relevant restrictions in a bid to speedily redevelop these lands. If developers do not have much interest in taking up such projects and the majority of owners would like to sell their legal titles, the Government should consider allowing the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to intervene. An approach similar to the “demand-led” pilot scheme can be adopted, so that the URA can propose conditions for purchase and thus enhance land-use efficiency in time.

重要生字

plot ratio 地積比率

lengthy and cumbersome 繁冗

demand-led 需求主導