East Kowloon urban renewal plan sees bids fail
All four developers in line for East Kowloon project had proposals rejected by the URA
The Urban Renewal Authority's biggest single project has suffered a setback after bids by developers apparently failed to meet standards set out by the quasi-governmental body.
The authority said yesterday it had been unable to choose any of the four bidders under the tender terms it had set for a project that is intended to turn Kwun Tong's rundown town centre into a "mini Taikoo Shing", and would revise some of the terms and seek new bids.
But it insisted that the target of providing the project's specified 1,700 flats by the 2019-20 financial year remained unchanged.
Ten companies had been invited to bid for the project but only four did so.
The development also includes three hectares of floor area for shops and a two-level public transport interchange over two hectares.
Under the bidding terms, the winner was required to pay a minimum of HK$8 billion to the authority, with total investment for the project estimated at as much as HK$18 billion.