Can developer land banks be unlocked?

Half of Hong Kong lives in public housing. The waiting time for applicants is almost six years. Experts believe there is ample unused land in the New Territories to match the 1,700-hectare Lantau program of 30 years at HK$642 billion. How to unlock that? Wang Yuke reports from Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government owns all its 1,111 square kilometers of land. It sells leases set to expire by 2047. More than half of its population of 7.5 million resides in 78 sq km of the New Territories (excluding the New Territories' rural ancestral lands, which accommodate 7 percent of Hong Kong households). The balance resides in 42 sq km from Boundary Street of Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. The population density is higher than that of Tokyo and London.