The government on Thursday kickstarted the process of taking back some 1.1 hectares of land in Yuen Long and Fanling, with the aim of building some 1,660 subsidised flats at the sites.

The plots in Yuen Long are at the junction of Yuen Lung Street and Yau Tin East Road as well as Shap Pat Heung Road near Lung Tin Tsuen, while the Fanling plots are on San Wan Road near Wong Kong Shan.

The government triggered the Land Resumption Ordinance to take back the 30 separate private lots in three months' time, after the posting of resumption notices.

In a statement, it said the sites along with government land adjacent to them, will be given to implementation agents for development, and people should be able to move into the new flats in five years' time at the earliest.

The government added that the sites were identified as part of a review announced by the Development Bureau in May last year, to find private land zoned for high-density housing development.