The land adjoining the oil street is one of fully attentive, prime land which Cheung Kong (Holdings) admits to apply for purchase. Yesterday Li Tsar Keun, vice-president of the Cheung Kong (Holdings) rarely admited to the media that he had applied to the Lands Department for the purchase of land which is located near North Point oil street and in West Knowloon reclamation area. If the government agrees on a reserve price for the land adjoining the oil street, tendering could start in this financial year of 2000/2001.

Barly, vice-director of the Lands Department, said that he could not make any comment on the disclosure of the application for the purchase of those lands by Cheung Kong Holding because the application for land purchase in the list of land reserve is private and confidential. After the reserve price for the land applied is accepted and the deposit is received, the Department will anounce the result.

Barly pointed out that with a bigger size, the land adjoining the oil street would be sold in the form of tendering; concerning the land in West Kowloon, no decision on the way of sale had been made. In general, according to the application review procedure, two months are needed, spanning from an application to an approval and a payment of the deposit. If the application process runs smoothly, it is expected that tendering will start in this financial year.

To define the reserve price for the land applied, the Lands Department take as a reference the past record of transactions, in particular the outcome of the Tormorrow's land sale. Cheung Kong Holdings also highlighted that as a land sold tomorrow was close to the applied one in West Kowloon, the result of the land sale would become a main reference for setting a general price of West Kowloon Area.

Recently it is rumored that as the Cheung Kong Holdings attempts to achieve a combined development in West Kowloon Reclamation area, she must purchase the land of West Kowloon with all efforts tomorrow. Li Tsa Keu, in the aniversary meeting of the Sino Property, replied to the media that the purchase of the West Knowloon land may not succeed; if he failed to bid for the land of West Knowloon, he would bid for the neighboring one; also, if he failed to bid for land of Sai Wan Ho, he would bid for the land of oil street.

Li Tsa Keu said that Cheung Hong would not lower its flat prices because the recent sale is quite satisfactory. But he hoped that property price was too expensive. Regarding the question on the trend of the property market, he did not give any comment. Indeed he took the land purchase application as an example to confirm his optimism towards the market.

Cheung Kong Holdings' Land Purchase Application
Location	No. Land	Land Use	Site Area	Plot Ratio	Floor Area	Deposit	Earliest Date of Sale
Government Resources-Supply Warehouse in front of Oil street	8920	C	125,939	10.55	1,328,654	50	4/2000
No. E/A3 in WestKowloon Reclamation Area	11146	C/R	243,266	7.5	1,24,498	50	9/2000