
Profit-based agenda is URA’s priority
I refer to the report, “URA ‘overestimated legal risk over flats’” (November 27).
Lawmaker Denis Kwok surmises that the Urban Renewal Authority might have committed its policy U-turn to allow single people to buy flats at one of its new development projects in Kai Tak over concerns that its original plan might be contested in court under anti-discrimination laws.
The Urban Renewal Authority has a stipulated mission of handling dilapidation in old urban areas, but recent history shows that the authority has adopted a profit-based agenda.
There is little public confidence that the authority has the community’s interests at the forefront of its decisions.
Its main strategy is to decant existing owners to grab their re-development rights, and then pass these on to the tycoon-led property development companies.
I guess that the policy U-turn is at the behest of these private developers who do joint ventures with the URA.