12,000 sign petition in residents’ drive against temporary flats at prime Hong Kong site as minister stresses project is only for 7 years
- Residents collect nearly 12,000 signatures in three days from people opposed to building of flats at Kai Tak under ‘light public housing’ scheme
- Government’s vision to transform Kai Tak into city’s second central business district remains unchanged, housing minister Winnie Ho vows
Residents who oppose the building of more than 10,000 temporary public flats at a prime site in Hong Kong’s Kai Tak area have collected nearly 12,000 signatures in three days, while the housing minister has tried to alleviate concerns by stressing the land will be used for its intended commercial purpose in seven years.
People from at least 15 private, public and subsidised estates in Kai Tak set up several booths near the site on Saturday to collect signatures from locals opposed to the building of flats under the “light public housing” scheme near their homes. They are also seeking support from online petitions.
“Light public housing can help to tackle the city’s housing crunch but it can be placed in other places,” residents’ representative Pat Wong said.
“The government has been spending money and time to develop Kai Tak for years. We hope the government can follow its original planning of developing it into a central business district.”
As of 7pm on Saturday the group had collected around 10,000 signatures online and 1,800 on paper.
Residents said they hoped the government in the meantime could postpone the application process for HK$9.5 billion in funding for the Kai Tak project in the Legislative Council this month.
They also said they were seeking information from police and would not rule out the possibility of holding a rally. They had also spoken to lawyers on whether to file a judicial review application.
Housing minister Winnie Ho Wing-yin earlier on Saturday said the site on Olympic Avenue for the 10,700 homes would only be used for temporary flats for seven years as the government’s vision of transforming Kai Tak into the city’s second central business district remained unchanged.
“I want to quickly assist residents in need of public housing. I describe the plan as a ‘lifeboat’ … the temporary housing has a historical mission that will be completed at a certain point,” Ho told a radio programme.
“After two years of construction and five years of usage, we will return the site to the Development Bureau for long-term commercial land use. It will not affect the government’s plan to build Hong Kong’s second core business district in Kowloon East.”
The Kai Tak Development project, a plan to turn the area into a bustling residential and commercial district, has gone through multiple changes since the 1990s. Adding to its original sports and tourism theme, the government announced in 2011 that it would be branded with the rest of East Kowloon as a premier second business district – Hong Kong’s “CBD2”.
Hong Kong’s Kai Tak dreams fizzle amid delays, changes to plans
With the rezoning of several commercial sites for housing, Kai Tak’s population last year was estimated to reach 158,000 under the project, but the temporary homes plan was not factored into the calculation.
Several lawmakers, district councillors and developers have raised concerns about the area’s transport capacity, while others have said the scheme will block the views of private complexes and affect home prices.
Ho dismissed concerns about transport, saying the site was situated between two railway stations – Kai Tak and Sung Wong Toi.
“The use of railway services in the morning peak hours in Kai Tak only reaches 50 per cent,” Ho said, adding the area would only have to accommodate an additional 25,000 residents.
She also revealed the Transport Department would establish two more bus routes to meet demand.
“The light public housing scheme, although it is a short-term plan, has already improved the community,” she said.
The minister reiterated that the government would not change its proposal to build 30,000 transitional flats in eight locations for residents waiting for public housing.
“These eight sites are the most suitable [for the scheme]. We do not have other choices at the moment,” she said.
She urged people to think of the “social value” of the scheme, saying it could significantly improve the living conditions of underprivileged residents.
Society would pay a price on healthcare, education and social services if those in need, especially children and the elderly, were not taken care of and given a suitable living environment, she added.
Hong Kong official warns against stirring up conflict over Kai Tak housing plan
Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun on Friday also defended the scheme, warning against stirring up conflict and separating low-income households from the middle class.
The project, which has a price tag of HK$26.4 billion (US$3.4 billion), was proposed by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his maiden policy address last October. It is designed to cut wait times for permanent and temporary public flats from six years to 4½ years by 2026-27. Currently, the average wait for public housing is 5.6 years.
Construction costs for each flat could reach HK$800,000 based on the total price of the project, but Ho said a home would cost from HK$530,000 to HK$650,000 to build and that the expenses also included infrastructure such as stairs and lifts.
