Salary freeze for Hong Kong’s cash-strapped Urban Renewal Authority

Hong Kong’s cash-strapped Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has frozen the salaries of its 700 staff for the second time in four years, following an earlier decision by the government to pause pay rises for civil servants.

The authority confirmed to the Post on Sunday that it had made the decision after reviewing employee salaries, a process it carried out annually.

“After careful consideration, the URA has decided to freeze the salary levels for the 2025-26 financial year, while employees who met the specified performance standards will receive a performance based variable pay,” the authority said.

Salaries at the statutory body were last frozen in 2021-22.

The authority said its employees had been informed about the latest move.

In February, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po announced the government would freeze civil servant pay and axe 10,000 positions as part of efforts to tackle the city’s deficit, which was estimated at HK$87.2 billion (US$11.21 billion) at the time.

The announcement prompted many to question whether the city’s myriad statutory and advisory bodies, as well as employers in the private sector, would follow suit.