Hong Kong redevelopment plan on hold as city tackles ageing buildings
Pilot scheme letting residents start redevelopment projects for dilapidated buildings on hold until 2019
The Urban Renewal Authority will suspend a scheme that allowed communities to initiate building redevelopments for at least two years, to buy time to come up with better planning solutions to solve the city’s ageing buildings problem.
The pilot scheme, which lets residents start redevelopment projects for dilapidated buildings, has been put on hold until 2019, the authority’s managing director Wai Chi-sing said on Wednesday.
“The original intention of the demand-led projects is good, but there have been some operational difficulties and we need to find a solution to address them,” he said.
Wai said most projects involved individual building owners, leading to single-block buildings being constructed, rather than wider estates with communal facilities.
The public has long criticised the URA for what is seen as a piecemeal approach, building single blocks on each redevelopment site without considering community needs.