LCQ6: MTR property development
In order to support the adoption of railways as the backbone of Hong Kong's transport system, the Government gives the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) various items of support, including granting to MTRCL the property development rights on top of the stations along the railway. However, MTRCL's Fare Adjustment Mechanism does not take into account the series of MTRCL's benefits arising from property development rights. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the real estate projects the property development rights of which were obtained by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) before the rail merger; in respect of each of the projects, the land premium paid by MTRC; the amount of grant provided to MTRC by the Government based on estimates to bridge the funding gap when it granted the property development rights to MTRC; the actual revenue received by MTRC after completing the development; the difference between such revenue and the funding gap bridged by the government grant which was calculated based on estimates; the respective annual rentals and other revenues for the year ended December 31, 2011 and the 15 years before that year derived by MTRC from the properties in those real estate projects which were not sold but were partly or wholly kept by MTRC for rent or business operation purposes; the respective amounts of the fair value or valuation of these properties from the dates of completion to the end of each of the years; and set out the aforesaid information of each project in table form;
(b) when MTRC merged with the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) to form MTRCL in 2007, whether the Government had sold to MTRCL all property development rights on top of the stations along the Kowloon-Canton Railway; if not, how the property development rights not sold to MTRCL were dealt with in that year; if so, list the locations and the details and scales of development of such projects in table form; of the price (including the land premium per square foot of floor space and the total amount of land premium) paid by MTRCL for each project; the respective actual revenues (after deducting the aforesaid price paid to KCRC or the Government) derived by MTRCL from the completed projects; in each of the undeveloped projects, the difference between the current estimated land premium per square foot of floor space and that paid by MTRCL to KCRC or the Government at that time; set out in table form the aforesaid related information in respect of the developed and undeveloped parts of those projects which are under development but are not fully completed; and
(c) of the details (including whether the funding gaps for the projects were subsidised with the returns from property development (e.g. the South Island Line) or the projects were constructed with government funding (e.g. the West Island Line)) of the funding arrangement for each railway project confirmed for construction after the rail merger; of the respective amounts of land premium received or to be received from MTRCL and the funding gap subsidised or to be subsidised in respect of the projects the property development rights of which were granted by the Government, with a breakdown in table form by project?
