The Executive Director of the URA, Wei Chi-shing, published a blog today (31st), emphasizing that it is not financially feasible for the URA to develop public housing.
The HA's assumption of purchasing the formed land from the URA to build public housing is also "a very expensive option". It believes that it will reduce the supply of residential units in the private market and the number of public housing units that can be provided. A "lose-lose" situation for the HA and the URA.
Wei Zhicheng said that, within its power, the URA could study and release some resources and land for the development of first-home units in some projects with relatively large scale and high development potential, among which Sguawan The civil service co-operative society building redevelopment project at Yu Bei Lung Road/Zhejiang Street can provide about 1,000 first-home units.
Wei Zhicheng, Executive Director of the URA.
(file picture)
Commitment to develop public housing will make financial reserves "indistinguishable"
Wei Zhicheng said that there are some opinions recently that the URA can afford to develop public housing given its current financial situation.
Taking the six redevelopment projects in To Kwa Wan as an example, he pointed out that the URA spent more than $14 billion in expenses such as acquisition of property rights and compensation for affected tenants.
He stressed that if the project land is allocated for the construction and provision of public housing, the land cannot be tendered and the up-front payment cannot be collected.
He went on to point out that since there is currently no mechanism between the government and the URA to recoup compensation expenditures, allowing the government to compensate the URA for the expenses incurred in acquiring private property titles, it will lead to the URA’s financial reserves” In and out”, affecting the resources and capabilities they can use to drive urban renewal.
Wei Chi-shing believes that the assumption that the HA will purchase the formed land from the URA to build public housing is a very expensive option, and he is worried that it will lead to a "lose-lose" situation.
(file picture)
HA buying land from URA to build public housing is a 'very expensive option'
Wei Chi-shing also pointed out that the HA's hypothetical practice of purchasing the cleared land from the URA to build public housing is a "very expensive option", and the HA has no mechanism to purchase and demolish disrepaired flats in old districts from the URA. and the levelled land.
He explained that if the Housing Authority compensates the URA for the acquisition expenses of the To Kwa Wan project with $14 billion to acquire land to build public housing, the average floor area of each public housing unit is about 300 square feet, which can be used for development. Only about 4,000 units are available.
On the contrary, if the land allocated by the government for the development of public housing is roughly estimated at a construction cost of about $650,000 per unit, more than 21,000 units can be built.
He also said that the HA and the HS have a lot of experience in implementing public housing development projects, and described the URA as a "novice" in developing public housing projects.
In addition, after being constructed by the URA and handed over to the Housing Authority for management, additional quality control and acceptance procedures will be added, overlapping functions and failing to effectively utilize public resources.
About 1,000 first-home units will be provided on the south side of the site in the future for the redevelopment project on Back Lung Road/Zhejiang Street.
(File photo/Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Feasibility study to free up resources and land to develop first home units
He also mentioned that, taking into account the goal of maintaining the implementation of the urban renewal work and its sustainable development, and within its power, the URA can study some projects to free up part of the resources and land for development. For "first home" units.
Among them, in the redevelopment project of civil servants' cooperatives on Yipulong Road/Zhejiang Street in Skuawan, due to the low building density of the current building group, there is still about 50% of the remaining undeveloped floor area of private land. potential to create space for them to free up about a third of the land on the southern side of the site for about 1,000 first home units.
No redevelopment of 13th Street in To Kwa Wan?
URA: The acquisition requires 40 billion yuan, and it is necessary to save enough money first. The URA has a surplus of 6.57 billion, and the URA earns 1.3 billion in happiness. The shortfall will reach 15 billion yuan. It is planned to finance the first anniversary of the Tuen Ma Line | One year after the opening to traffic, Kowloon City will be rebuilt. held