Hong Kong’s cash-strapped Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is looking at engaging private developers at an earlier stage of the redevelopment process by allowing them to acquire the old buildings to reduce the risk of failed tenders, the body’s chief has revealed.
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The remarks by URA managing director Donald Choi Wun-hing on Monday followed the authority’s move to review its compensation policy and introduce a more comprehensive compensation mechanism with better rehousing options to cut its acquisition costs and expedite redevelopments.
The authority would, among other options, study the possibility of allowing developers to join the urban redevelopment market earlier, according to Choi.
“We would consider in detail any suitable plan to allow developers to enter the market earlier,” he told a meeting of the Legislative Council’s development panel, when reporting the URA’s redevelopment progress.
Under the current mechanism, the authority is responsible for the acquisition process and compensating flat owners. This is followed by a bidding process for developers to take on the redevelopment project.
Lawmaker Kitson Yang Wing-kit suggested that the URA and developers could be allowed to enter the market together when acquiring land lots instead of solely relying on the body.
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