LCSD public service arrangements during Lunar New Year holidays
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today (January 6) the department's public service arrangements during the Lunar New Year holidays. Parks and playgrounds under the LCSD will remain open during the Lunar New Year holidays. The SmartPLAY Internet and mobile app services will also operate as usual throughout the holidays.
After the closure during the first two days of the Lunar New Year, some recreation and sports facilities will reopen and operate as usual (please refer to Annex 1 for details) on the third day of the Lunar New Year (January 31), including sports centres, squash courts, tennis courts, turf pitches, bowling greens, Tuen Mun Recreation and Sports Centre and the archery range at Ngau Chi Wan Park.
Apart from the above facilities, some sports centres, various fee-charging land-based facilities, swimming pools and water sports centres will be closed during the first three days of the Lunar New Year (January 29 to 31). Services at gazetted beaches will also be suspended. Stadia and all sports grounds will be closed unless advance bookings have been made.
Holiday camps will be closed during the first three days of the Lunar New Year, and lodging will not be provided on Lunar New Year's Eve (January 28).
SmartPLAY service counters and Smart Self-Service Stations at venues will not operate when the venues are closed. For venues scheduled to reopen on January 31, their SmartPLAY service counters and Smart Self-Service Stations will also resume operation on the same day.
Details of the opening arrangements for LCSD recreation and sports venues during the Lunar New Year holidays have been posted at all venues and uploaded to the department's website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/index.html).
Regarding cultural venues, the opening hours of performance venues and URBTIX outlets during the Lunar New Year holidays are listed in Annex 2. From January 28 to 31 (Lunar New Year's Eve to the third day of the Lunar New Year), the URBTIX Internet booking (www.urbtix.hk) and the mobile ticketing app URBTIX will maintain normal services, and both the telephone booking hotline 3166 1288 and the ticketing enquiries and customer service hotline 3166 1100 will provide normal services from 10am to 8pm daily.
The opening hours of the 15 museums and two art spaces under the LCSD during the Lunar New Year holidays are as follows:
Lunar New Year's Eve (January 28): The Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Science Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of the War of Resistance and Coastal Defence, the Law Uk Folk Museum, the Oil Street Art Space, and the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum will be closed at 5pm. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Hong Kong Space Museum, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, the Hong Kong Railway Museum, the Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery, the Sheung Yiu Folk Museum, the Hong Kong Film Archive, the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre and the Sam Tung Uk Museum will be closed on that day.
The first two days of the Lunar New Year (January 29 and 30): All closed.
The third day of the Lunar New Year (January 31): Except for the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, all venues will open as usual.
The fourth day of the Lunar New Year (February 1): All venues will resume normal opening hours.
Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum was temporarily closed from May 1, 2024, for upgrading the permanent exhibition galleries to enhance the design and presentation, as well as for maintenance and renovation works.
All Hong Kong public libraries, mobile libraries and students' study rooms will be closed from 5pm on Lunar New Year's Eve (January 28) to the third day of the Lunar New Year (January 31).
Moreover, system maintenance work of public libraries will be carried out from 7am on January 29 to 11.59pm on January 30, during which the following services will be suspended:
library mobile app services and Internet and telephone renewal services;
other online library services, including the library catalogue, borrowers' record enquiries, reservation of library materials and computer facilities and electronic resources (e-books and e-databases); and
self-service library stations (readers can still return books at the stations before the due date, and the loan record will be updated within two working days).
Government announces quarterly land sale programme for January to March 2025
The Government announced today (January 7) the quarterly land sale programme for the fourth quarter of 2024-25, i.e. January to March 2025.
The Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, said in the fourth quarter of 2024-25, the Government will put up for tender a residential site at Area 106B of Tung Chung New Town Extension, expected to provide a total gross floor area of approximately 37 200square metres and a supply of about 745 flats. This site is not one of the sites on the Land Sale Programme (LSP) this financial year, but the Government considers it an appropriate time to include this site in the LSP and put up for tender in the fourth quarter. When arriving at this decision, the Government has considered recent market environment and views from market stakeholders, the MTR Corporation Limited's recent successful tender of a site nearby, as well as the upcoming gradual completion of public housing in the area. Area 106B sits on a harbourfront location and will be served by the future Tung Chung East Station. Having regard to the views from the real estate industry, the tender of Area 106B attaches simple tender conditions and no requirement to construct Government facilities. Moreover, as the site sits on reclaimed land, the developer is not required to conduct any further site formation works, which may help reduce development cost.
The Government once put up Area 106B for tender in September 2023, but the tender premiums received did not meet the reserve price and hence the tender was cancelled. For the re-tender of Area 106B, the Government has taken into account market feedbacks and enhanced the tender conditions of the site. For example, the infrastructural capacity of the site could only afford around 400 units in the previous tender, resulting in rather large average flat size. After the Government's review on infrastructural capacity, the site now has a capacity to produce 745 units with smaller average unit size, enhancing the business return of the development. As regards construction works, a new road serving the site will be completed very soon, enhancing the accessibility of the site and facilitating construction works.
In addition, the Urban Renewal Authority plans to tender in this quarter its development project in Shantung Street / Thistle Street, bringing about 340flats. As for private development and redevelopment projects, two projects are expected to complete their lease modifications in the fourth quarter, providing a supply of 13 flats.
"Taking all sources of land supply into account, the total private housing land supply in the fourth quarter of this financial year would support the development of around 1 110 units. Together with the supply from the first three quarters, the total private housing land supply of this financial year is expected to support some 8 340 units, which is around 63 per cent of our annual target of private housing supply (13 200units). This figure has not yet reflected private redevelopment projects not requiring lease modification from the fourth quarter, as such figures are only available at a later stage," Ms Linn said.
Ms Linn added that the total private housing supply of this financial year may fall short of the annual target, but this outturn is expected and reasonable. The high interest rate environment and geopolitical developments have impacted investment and cash flow, reducing activities in local assets markets. Developers have been cautious in bidding for sites. Notwithstanding the recent interest rates adjustments and gradual market recovery, the Government believes developers would still need time to re-adjust. Hence the Government remains prudent and pragmatic in land disposal this quarter, even though it has ample sites to dispose of, reflecting that the Government has overall steer on land supply, which allows it to consider when to roll out sites depending on the circumstances. Also, private housing land supply from the past four financial years have exceeded the annual target by an aggregate of about 12 000 flats, far more than the shortfall in this financial year (about 4 860 flats).
The Government will continue to sustain its effort in rolling out land in a prudent and pragmatic manner, and flexibly adjust land disposal strategy according to market situation, in order to meet housing and economic development needs.
The list of the site to be tendered in January to March 2025 is in the Annex. The actual tender timetable will be drawn up taking into account the progress of necessary preparatory work. The Lands Department will announce the detailed land sale arrangements before the site is put up for tender.
