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Kowloon Tong, a traditional low-rise residential area, is to be transformed into a higher-density business hub for high-technology companies.

The Planning Department proposes to turn about 12.5 hectares of land within the boundary of Cornwall Street, To Fuk Road, Suffolk Road and Waterloo Road into a hi-tech community.

It hopes to establish a base for the clustering of creative information services businesses, including software designers, electronic commerce businesses and information technology firms.

Under the proposal, part of the latest Metroplan review, the hi-tech area could be extended to cover the 10-hectare Kowloon East Barracks in the long term.

The department expects that the presence of various government and educational institutions in the neighbourhood, including the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Industrial Technology Centre, Hong Kong Productivity Centre and Hong Kong Baptist University, will help foster the formation of a hi-tech community.

A department spokesman said the proximity of the area to MTR and KCR lines and the future public transport interchange now under construction would pave the way for an increase in the development plot ratio from 0.6 to two.

Height restrictions could be relaxed to allow 10-storey buildings, from three storeys at present, the spokesman said.

The hi-tech hub could house 12,000 jobs.

The 12.5-hectare area is zoned for residential use at present and about half has been converted to other uses such as kindergartens, homes for the elderly and studios, according to the department. There are also residential blocks, schools and motels.

The proposal has drawn a mixed response from the industry and Kowloon Tong residents.

Some members of the Kowloon Tong Residents Association, which claims to represent owners of more than 200 properties, were dissatisfied with the proposed increase in plot ratio and called for a larger increase.

Jerry Pang, owner of No 22 Essex Crescent, said a higher plot ratio for the area was justified because of the closure of Kai Tak airport and the removal of previous height restrictions in the vicinity, and given its well-developed transportation network.

It was appropriate the area be rezoned from pure residential use into a comprehensive development area with a plot ratio of five times, he said.

'The land lease in Kowloon Tong restricts the plot ratio at 0.6 and a maximum building height of three storeys but it is outdated and hinders the redevelopment of many decaying houses,' he said.

'Land is scarce, especially in the centre of Kowloon. To allow a higher density can increase the land value and eventually benefit the whole society.'

Mr Pang said the government could raise billions of dollars in land premium revenue by charging for lease modifications and also create more jobs by adopting a more flexible planning policy.

He suggested the government rezone a larger area, surrounded by Boundary Street, Cornwall Street and Waterloo Road, taking in a total of 38 hectares, for medium-density mixed-use development.

Kwok Shiu-ming, owner of No 4 Somerset Road, suggested allowing hotel development with a plot ratio of five times.

'We have no objection to hi-tech development if the density can be increased as a redevelopment incentive.'

He said Kowloon Tong was suitable for redevelopment into a multi-functional hi-tech hub with mini-hotels, serviced apartments and guest houses, apart from offices and data centres, since low- to medium-tariff hotels were scarce.

The Planning Department spokesman said technical studies had advised limiting the plot ratio to below two times to avoid traffic congestion or adversely affecting the environment. He said it was undesirable to increase the development capacity substantially in particular areas of Kowloon since the Metroplan review recommended preserving the overall density.

The redevelopment of flats with a more flexible building height would be allowed in Kowloon Tong, he said. Old leases restricting single European-style houses to three storeys could be modified.

'Landlords or developers have to pay land premiums for any increase of land value,' the spokesman said.

He said land-use planning for the Kowloon East Barracks site, as well as a detailed planning schedule for the hi-tech node, had not been concluded, pending further feasibility studies.

SK Pang Surveyors managing director Pang Shiu-kee said transforming Kowloon Tong from a luxury residential district with well-known educational institutions to hi-tech node with commercial clusters would be difficult in practice given that the cost of buying land was too high.

'The trend in technology changes from time to time. [Offices catering for hi-tech activities] have no proven market,' he said.

'To develop a hi-tech hub [in Kowloon Tong] is not feasible from an economic point of view,' he said, adding that the average land value for residential use in the area ranged from HK$1,500 to HK$2,000 per square foot.

Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu, assistant director of Wharf (Holdings), said the value of residential land in Kowloon Tong would be much higher than commercial land.

He said that increasing the plot ratio to two times was an adequate incentive for redevelopment, but developers might find that building offices was not financially viable.

He suggested that rezoning the military site into a comprehensive development area catering for residential and commercial use to achieve a balance between planning and economic gains.

Graphic: KTONGgsp



Kowloon Tong to get hi-tech makeover