A mental health complex delayed for more than a decade because of opposition from residents was officially opened yesterday.
The seven-storey headquarters of the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong was scheduled to open in Kung Lok Road, Kwun Tong, in 1986 or 1987.
The $45-million complex, sponsored by the Jockey Club and the Lotteries Fund, was to be the first of its kind when it was planned as a halfway house for former mental patients after a tragedy involving a mentally ill man in Shamshuipo in 1982. Lee Chi-han, then 28, slashed 34 toddlers, killing three, at Anne Anne Kindergarten after stabbing his mother and sister to death.
But the centre's construction was delayed for more than 10 years because of pressure from residents angry that a quarter of the hostel places were for people with histories of violent behaviour.
'When we came here in around 1988, we could see banners hanging outside the buildings saying, 'We don't want to live with mental patients',' Dr Mak Ki-yan, chairman of the Mental Health Association, said.
'There had been a long delay because of resistance from the residents and while other remote locations were being identified by the Government over three years.
