The Urban Renewal Authority launched the Nga Tsin Wai Road / Carpenter Road development plan on the 27th of last month, which is the 17th project in the Kowloon City District.
The URA emphasizes that the goals of the project are to increase greening and community facilities space, enhance the district’s history and the characteristics of the small street food and cultural district, ease the demand for parking spaces, improve traffic and pedestrian networks, revitalize and rehabilitate buildings, and connect to the Kai Tak Development Area, etc. , Demolition and construction is not the point.
Chief Executive Officer Wei Chi-shing explained that the Urban Renewal Authority wants to renovate the urban area, which "is fundamentally different from the redevelopment carried out by ordinary developers." However, the URA's planning layout and redevelopment methods contradict the goals, and it is difficult to maintain the characteristics of the existing community. , and the privatization of public space is also controversial.
The URA chose this area for redevelopment because of its commercial returns.
In the past, many buildings had height restrictions due to their proximity to the old Kai Tak Airport, resulting in a large amount of unused development space. Therefore, the redevelopment plan will help the Bureau to repay the urban renewal expenses and even make profits.
The entire planning layout largely accommodates residential buildings and commercial facilities.
After the project is completed, 70% of the floor area will be residential, with 4,350 units with an average saleable area of 400 square feet.
As long as each sale is 4.5 million yuan, the total will exceed 19.5 billion yuan, which is higher than the 15 billion yuan set aside by the URA.
The URA has earmarked more than $15 billion for the redevelopment of Nga Tsin Wai Road in Kowloon City.
(Photo by Ou Jiale)
It is said that the characteristics of the community are difficult to maintain, and there is a lot of concern about the reconstruction. The Chaoshan and Thai communities who used to live and do business here move out of Kowloon City and disperse.
But another community that deserves attention is the market stalls in Kowloon City and nearby businesses.
After the project is completed, the market and neighboring businesses will be separated, and it will be difficult for them to reunite.
The new government complex on the northern site combines government services such as Kowloon City Market, Lee Kee Memorial Medical Bureau, and Health Center, as well as the newly established sky garden, which can reflect the multi-purpose use of one site.
This would have been a good thing, the problem is that the market is no longer the center of the block, nor is it surrounded by shops such as fruit shops, Shanghai food stores, seafood shops and restaurants.
The reason why this market is famous is because it attracts many customers from outside the district. They not only go to the market to buy fresh and diversified food ingredients, but also visit the shops surrounding the market together, which helps the shops in the market to benefit.
After the relocation of the market, even if there is a flyover connecting the main site, it can welcome the residents and customers after the reconstruction of the adjacent Kowloon City Plaza, but the business district will always be scattered, and it will lose its attractiveness because it is difficult for customers from outside the district to gather in one place for shopping. Losing this batch of tourists, leaving small streets but not small shops, shopping and even community characteristics may be difficult to restore.
The relocation of the market and the multi-purpose use of one site are aimed at ceding lots to build new private buildings.
It is said that Kowloon City will "change the sky", probably because of the huge scale of reconstruction...
For details, please read the 320th issue of "Hong Kong 01" e-Weekly Newsletter (June 6, 2022) "The
key to the reconstruction of Kowloon City is still 4,350 new private housing units
".
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