URA may change consensus threshold after single holdout threatens project

The Urban Renewal Authority will review the threshold set for demand-led redevelopment projects after a pilot project in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon, faced being derailed by an owner refusing to sell his shop.

Under the authority's policy, demand-led projects can only begin when at least 80 per cent of owners in a lot agree to sell their properties. The concept was initiated under a new renewal strategy formed last year.

But at one of the four lots involved in the project in Pine Street and Oak Street, Tai Kok Tsui, only a 50 per cent consensus had been reached. The deadline is Monday.

The authority said yesterday a shop owning 27 per cent of the total interest was "unhappy" with the acquisition price and refused to sell, sparking fears the project could fail. The other three lots have reached the 80 per cent threshold.

"I would be disappointed if the redevelopment is made impossible by opposition from one shop," the authority's chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen said.

The authority would review the policy after the completion of the pilot projects.

A source close to the authority said the 80 per cent threshold was unlikely to be lowered, but the authority might look at options to redefine the basis of the 80 per cent - perhaps applied to the whole site instead of a single lot.