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Tai Hang Sai Estate. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Green light for property tycoon-linked plan to redevelop Hong Kong’s only low-cost private housing estate

Henderson Land mogul Lee Shau-kee in spotlight as planning chiefs back change that could affect 1,300 households

A plan to redevelop Hong Kong’s only privately-owned low-cost rental housing estate has been given a conditional green light by planning chiefs - despite controversial links to one of the city’s richest property developers.

Late on Friday, the Town Planning Board said the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation can redevelop the Shek Kip Mei site on condition that it reaches a deal to rehouse 1,300 affected households in the Tai Hang Sai Estate.

One of Hong Kong’s richest men, Henderson Land chairman Lee Shau-kee, is a director of the corporation behind the redevelopment, a non-profit organisation that bought the land at a knock-down price from the government in 1961 to build flats for the city’s poor.

Henderson Land announced in March it had applied to the board to redevelop the 51-year-old estate in two phases, the first involving building 1,289 new flats by 2022. Another 3,636 units will be built in the second.

The conditionally approved plan includes development of flats, shops and services, and minor relaxation of plot ratio and building height restrictions.

“In arriving at the decision, the [board] recognised the need for redevelopment of [the estate] and considered the proposal acceptable from planning and technical aspects,” the announcement reads. “Nevertheless, the [board] is very concerned about the rehousing arrangement for the existing tenants... The [board] has requested the government not to execute the lease modification for the redevelopment proposal before the rehousing arrangement has been satisfactorily resolved.”

A spokesman for the corporation said the company welcomed the approval.

The company had previously said that possible options for residents included letting affected residents continue renting their flats, whilst giving them priority to buy flats at a discount when the work is completed, and cash compensation.

But concerned residents, who organised protests previously against the proposal, said what they wanted was for the government to take over the redevelopment and offer them public housing flats in the area while the work goes on.

They worried that the redeveloped flats would be much more expensive.

The rents of flats in the estate ranged from around HK$500 to HK$2,000 in 2014. The planning board received 1,594 submissions in a public consultation on the redevelopment proposal, which ended in April and 93 per cent of the submissions were against the plan.

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