Last Friday (24th), the Development Bureau submitted a document to the Legislative Council Panel on Development, introducing the research findings and recommendations on the redevelopment of Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok.
The research started in 2017, but the document did not even mention the most basic cost, timetable and resettlement plan. It only emphasized the blueprint for reconstruction and the participation of private developers. It is hard to say that it gives a vision for the community after the reconstruction.
There are many old buildings in Youwang and are in disrepair for a long time. Rehabilitation and reconstruction are inevitable.
Although private real estate developers have carried out redevelopment in individual sites in the area in the past, some of them have cooperated with the URA, but they are small in scale and tend to select buildings with unused plot ratios.
The focus of this study is to break through the restrictions, allow more old buildings to be included in the redevelopment, and at the same time improve the outlook of the community.
The URA proposes to set up five development nodes in the 212-hectare research area, such as the Mong Kok City Waterway, the revitalization of the Mong Kok market area, and the Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market. It also envisions the Tai Kok Tsui community/commercial core, the Mong Kok Youth Cultural Center, and Yau Ma Tei’s historical culture. Building complex and so on.
The URA’s Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok area planning research reports have been released, and some landmark buildings have been included in the relevant areas, including the fruit bars in the picture.
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The blank behind the blueprint
The document throws a beautiful blueprint, but it doesn't mention how much it will cost to complete.
The URA previously estimated that the purchase price was 1.1 trillion yuan. If the estimate remains unchanged, even if the URA develops in phases, private developers must participate in order to raise sufficient funds for reconstruction.
Similar to the redevelopment projects in Wan Chai and Kwun Tong, the URA proposes to transfer, consolidate blocks, relax the plot ratio of residential land, and proposes that the Buildings Department provide additional floor area or allowances for total building floor area to attract the market Funds and reconstruction of old buildings that have no potential for reconstruction.
The problem is that the transfer of plots is more controversial than in the past, and it is easy to cause planning chaos. It is easy to repeat the same mistakes in the Yauwang project, which runs counter to the concept of a livable city.
The URA encourages developers to integrate neighborhoods by transferring and increasing plot ratios, including road closures and construction of public open space. After redevelopment, URA and developers use the extra area to sell buildings and upgrade facilities and landscapes for profit, but rest. Whether the land will be truly open to give back to the public is unknown.
In the past, after the redevelopment of old areas such as Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui, many public spaces were built in hidden locations in private housing estates or became part of shopping malls, and their publicity has been compromised.
Although the government later published the "Guidelines for the Design and Management of Public Open Spaces in Private Development", the guidelines are not binding and fail to restrict developers from making smart profits in the Yau Mong project.
As for the URA’s failure to mention a timetable, it is hard for the public to believe that the bureau is determined to prevent the endless disrepair of old buildings and improve the living environment.
As the document points out, the entire project has 3,350 buildings, of which about 1,000 have stood for more than half a century and are poorly defined or in disrepair.
The bureau assessed that more than 800 buildings do not have the potential for redevelopment, but it has not explained whether all these 800 buildings have been included in poor or in disrepair, when the redevelopment plan will be carried out, and whether the buildings that are not included will be rehabilitated to prevent aging, etc. .
It is hard to imagine that the reconstruction of Kwun Tong’s city centre started in 2005 and has not yet been completed.
If there is no timetable, it is even more worrying whether the entire important project will be delayed again and again.
The URA published a research report on the planning of oil boom.
(File screenshot)
Existing residents must be properly disposed of
Whenever the redevelopment plan is carried out, the URA must also account for compensation and resettlement to the residents and businesses within the redevelopment area.
The document pointed out that Hong Kong’s first home buyers will be built in the district to live together with young people. However, there are a large number of grassroots residents living in old flats and even sub-divided flats in the district. Obviously, they are unable to "highly climb" the first home.
Property prices and rents are currently high. With the development of redevelopment, the rental value and property prices of neighboring units are bound to rise again. The amount of compensation paid by the URA to the landlord and tenants may not be enough to maintain the current quality of living. Leave the community.
Compared with the compensation plan, the URA should cooperate with the Housing Authority and the Housing Association to first find a location nearby to build a transfer unit. In the long run, a certain number of affordable housing such as public housing and home ownership should be built in the area. The overall supply of public housing in Hong Kong has enabled them to benefit from the improvement in their lives after urban renewal.
The Fu Wing Garden and Prosperous Garden in the urban area of Kowloon provide flats for sale and lease, and there are also some resettlement buildings built for residents affected by redevelopment. The URA can imitate at least some redevelopment residents in the future.
Can urban renewal help the region "get out of poverty"?
The URA's profit-seeking style does not change urban renewal, where does it start?
Transfer of plot ratio is undesirable. Urban renewal must abandon the idea of accumulating money. Old public housing units are broken and need to be rebuilt as a whole.