Enact law making Hong Kong property owners pay monthly fee to maintain ageing buildings, Urban Renewal Authority says
Plan aims to conserve resources in land-scarce city, but faces concerns over adding to burden of residents in world’s least affordable property market
A law should be introduced under which property owners must contribute monthly to a building maintenance fund to sustain Hong Kong’s ageing neighbourhoods, the head of the city’s Urban Renewal Authority has said.
In an interview with the Post, authority managing director Wai Chi-sing said the self-financing statutory body had been studying the feasibility of the arrangement, with a monthly owner fee of between HK$2,500 and HK$4,000 (US$500) for a project in To Kwa Wan.
The Ma Tau Wai Road development by the authority, expected to provide 493 flats around the end of the year, was originally planned to test the set-up of such a fund, Wai said. He has been leading the authority for more than two years.