The issue of property rights and gaining consensus from more than 2,000 households of Hong Kong’s blaze-ravaged Wang Fuk Court will complicate rebuilding efforts, lawmakers and building experts have warned as new sites for redevelopment are proposed.
Legislative Council members said on Tuesday that authorities should listen widely to the views of Wang Fuk Court homeowners before deciding whether to reconstruct the blocks on site or develop a new community at nearby plots to house affected residents.
“Perhaps if you ask all the residents, many of them would like to leave this place of sorrow,” lawmaker Andrew Lam Siu-lo, a veteran town planner, said.
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“From the perspective of settling the residents, reconstruction is not the only option … and we need to see whether these plans could address the concerns of residents.”
Lam, who was re-elected in the Legco election on Sunday, also called on the government to prioritise finding existing residential flats to permanently rehouse affected residents before studying building new communities.
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A fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on November 26 and burned seven of the estate’s eight blocks.