LCQ17: Statistics on the work of the Urban Renewal Authority
8.7.2020

Following is a question by the Hon Fernando Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, in the Legislative Council today (July 8): Question: Regarding the statistics on the work of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), will the Government inform this Council if it knows: (1) the following information on each of the redevelopment projects for which the work on acquisition and rehousing was completed in the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20 (set out in Table 1 by project name): (a) the number of households at the time of the Freezing Survey, with a breakdown by category of occupiers (i.e. (i) owner-occupiers, (ii) domestic tenants, (iii) occupiers of rooftop structures, and (iv) others), and (b) the number of households who were offered rehousing or compensation, with a breakdown by the following arrangements made for them: (v) being rehoused in the public rental housing units provided by the Hong Kong Housing Authority, (vi) being rehoused in the public rental housing units provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society, (vii) being rehoused in the units of the rehousing blocks under the URA, (viii) being offered the basic ex-gratia payment, (ix) being offered a compensation in the form of an ex-gratia payment equivalent to three times the ex-gratia allowance offered by the Lands Department on resumption (because they were ineligible for the basic ex-gratia payment), and (x) being offered a compensation in the form of an ex-gratia payment equivalent to two times the ex-gratia allowance offered by the Lands Department on resumption (because they moved in after the date of the Freezing Survey or due to other reasons); Table 1 Financial year Project number Project name (a) (b) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Total (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (2) the following information on the various types of units in the rehousing blocks under the URA (i.e. (a) one-person unit (with shared kitchen), (b) one-person unit (with independent kitchen), (c) two-person unit (with shared kitchen), (d) two-person unit (with independent kitchen), and (e) family unit) in each of the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20 (set out in Table 2): (i) the number of units, (ii) the smallest and the largest usable areas of such units, (iii) the lowest and the highest rents for such units (excluding those units used as transitional housing), (iv) the number of units occupied, (v) the number of vacant units available for allocation to tenants affected by redevelopment, and (vi) the number of units leased to or reserved for social welfare organisations; Table 2 Type of unit Shun Sing Mansion Rich Building Bedford Tower 12 Soy Street, Mong Kok (a) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) &hellip; (3) in each of the redevelopment projects for which the work on acquisition and rehousing was completed in the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20, the number of units used for non-residential purposes at the time of the Freezing Survey, with a breakdown by: (a) the type of units (i.e. (i) ground level unit, (ii) exit staircase shop, (iii) cockloft unit, (iv) upstairs unit, and (v) others), (b) the category of occupiers (i.e. (vi) owner, (vii) tenant, (viii) occupier, and (ix) others), and (c) the nature of business operations (i.e. (x) retail, (xi) eatery, (xii) workshop, (xiii) service, (xiv) office, and (xv) others); (set out in Table 3 by project name); and Table 3 Financial year Project number Project name (a) (b) (c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Total (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (xi) (xii) (xiii) (xiv) (xv) (4) in respect of each of the redevelopment projects completed in the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20, the following details of the applications made by the affected shop operators for renting the shop premises provided in the completed redevelopment projects under the "Local Shop Arrangement" implemented by the URA (set out in Table 4 by project name): (i) the number and percentage of shop operators who made such applications, (ii) the number of shop operators who signed a tenancy agreement, (iii) the shortest and the longest terms of the tenancy agreements signed for the first time, (iv) whether rental concessions were offered to the shop operators, and (v) the details of the rental concessions (if any)? Table 4 Financial year Project number Project name (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Reply: President, Based on the information provided by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), my reply to the four parts of the question is as follows: (1) The requested information on the redevelopment projects for which acquisition and rehousing work was completed by the URA in the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20 is set out in Annex I. (2) There are four rehousing blocks under the URA, namely Shun Sing Mansion, Rich Building, Bedford Tower and 12 Soy Street, Mong Kok. The units of these rehousing blocks are categorised into one-person units (with shared kitchen), two-person units (with shared kitchen) and family units. The information on various types of units in each rehousing block as requested by the Member is set out in Annex II. (3) The information on units used for non-residential purposes at the time of the Freezing Survey in each of the redevelopment projects for which acquisition and rehousing work was completed by the URA in the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20 is set out in Annex III. As the collation of information on the nature of business operations of the units for non-residential purposes at the time of the Freezing Survey involves very substantial data compilation work, the URA is not able to provide the relevant information within a limited time frame. (4) Depending on the circumstances, the URA would assist eligible non-domestic owner-operators and tenant-operators within the area of a redevelopment project to rent shop premises in the future redevelopment. Details of applications from affected shop operators in the URA's redevelopment projects for renting the shop premises in the completed redevelopments in the financial years from 2010-11 to 2019-20 are set out in Annex IV.