HK$1 billion earmarked for redevelopment project in Hong Kong’s Kowloon City
- The Urban Renewal Authority plan will provide about 230 flats by 2033, but around 180 households and 20 shops will be affected
Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority has unveiled a more than HK$1 billion (US$128 million) redevelopment project in Kowloon City that will provide about 230 flats as early as 2033, although around 180 households and 20 shops will be affected.
Most tenants acknowledged on Friday the need to redevelop the ageing neighbourhood covering Ma Tau Wai Road and Lok Shan Road in To Kwa Wan, while calling for “reasonable” compensation from the authority.
But one shop owner was caught off guard by the announcement, saying she rented the premises a few months ago and had already spent more than HK$200,000 in renovation.
The authority’s latest site is located next to a larger-scale project announced in 2020 that will turn housing blocks once allocated for civil servants into more than 3,000 flats.
Mike Kwan Yee-fai, the authority’s general manager for planning and design, said the adjoining plans would yield many long-term benefits for the area.
“It will improve the connectivity and accessibility of the area, including the spatial connectivity [at the ground level],” he said, adding that the buildings involved in the project were all 55 years or older.