82% of Wang Fuk Court flat owners accept buy-back offer before priority deadline
Housing Bureau says it received 1,635 letters of acceptance a day before deadline to secure priority flat selection under special sales plan
More than 80 per cent of owners of the fire-ravaged housing estate, Wang Fuk Court, have accepted the Hong Kong government’s buy-back offer, a day before the deadline for them to secure priority flat selection under a special sales plan.
The Housing Bureau said in a statement on Monday that it had received a total of 1,635 signed letters of acceptance, accounting for about 82.4 per cent of the total number of flats in the estate’s eight blocks.
“Among them, 1,429 letters came from the seven buildings from Blocks A to G, representing about 82.3 per cent of the total number of flats in these seven buildings, and 206 letters came from Wang Chi House, or Block H, representing about 83 per cent of the total number of flats [there],” it said, adding that the figures reflected “good progress”.
The inferno on November 26 last year tore through seven of the complex’s eight blocks, killing 168 people, including a firefighter, and displacing about 5,000 residents.
The buy-back plan followed the government’s announcement in February that it would spend about HK$6.8 billion (US$867 million) to acquire flats from the affected owners. The budget consists of HK$4 billion in taxpayers’ money and HK$2.8 billion from a support fund largely made up of public donations.
After selling their ownership to the government and receiving cash payments, owners of the eight buildings can purchase a home in the market, or participate in a special sales programme to buy a new subsidised sale flat with cash or via a flat-for-flat arrangement.