New World Development Company Limited, one of Hong Kong's largest house developers, said on Wednesday it will donate 3 million square feet (about 270,000 square meters) of farmland for building public houses to help ease the housing woes.
The land donation will cover different land plots and go to the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), social enterprises or charity organizations, said New World's Executive Vice-Chairman and General Manager Cheng Chi-Kong at a briefing to detail the company's earnings.
The donation move aims to pay back to the society, Cheng said.
It came as the Hong Kong society is in heated discussions about Hong Kong's unaffordable housing and land supply shortage that has helped fuel months of unrest.
Earlier this month, Raymond Kwok, chairman of Hong Kong's another housing giant Sun Hung Kai Properties, said he understood housing supply was in great shortage in Hong Kong and the company would try its best to accelerate housing construction projects.
Kwok said in principle he supported the HKSAR government in taking back some of its farmland reserves for building public houses according to the Lands Resumption Ordinance.
