URA reveals plans for Sai Ying Pun
Redevelopment of nine tenement buildings will take 10 years to complete
A hidden park in the ageing Sai Ying Pun district will have more to offer residents when an urban renewal agency completes a project to develop nine 60-yearold tenement buildings.
But the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) redevelopment, which will displace about 100 households and 20 retail shops on Queen’s Road West and Kwai Heung Street, will take 10 years to complete.
The project aims to redevelop the old buildings and increase the size of the neighbouring park, the Sung Hing Lane Children’s Playground, according to the authority. Situated between the two main arteries, Des Voeux Road West and Queen’s Road West, the playground is one of six “landlocked” parks surrounded by buildings.
“The parks are there but they are now blocked by the old buildings so even residents are not aware they actually exist,” said Mike Kwan Yee-fai, the URA’s general manager of planning and design.
The URA hopes to open up these parks to improve pedestrian space and connectivity.
Together with the neighbouring project, the public space will be increased by 40 per cent to 1,000 square metres.
Buildings on the proposed site have an average age of 60 years and affected retailers include clinics, a bakery, and shops selling noodles and roast meat.
Residents who spoke to the Post said although they looked forward to the redevelopment, they hoped the board would offer them a new flat in the same neighbourhood.
Steve Chan, who lives on the sixth floor of a tenement building on Queen’s Road West, pointed out the chunks of plaster falling from his ceiling, exposing rusting steel beams.
His father bought the 500 sq ft flat, which came with a rooftop space of the same size, more than 50 years ago for about HK$200,000.
“A few developers approached us over the years to ask if we were interested but their offers were unattractive,” Chan said.
He said he would miss the residents the most, because they had a tight-knit community and would give each other food during the festive seasons.
The authority plans to make offers to residents in the first half of 2024, and begin the acquisition in 2025.
The project is slated to be completed in 2032.
Residents who have to relocate will be given cash compensation, or can apply for a unit under the board’s flat-for-flat scheme, which will grant them a unit in the new development, or other projects by the URA in the same district.
The authority is proposing to build about 180 small and medium-sized flats on the site, with another 1,000 square metres for retail space.
It declined to state how much the project would cost.
“We don’t have a crystal ball to forecast whether the market will go up or down in 2024, so we cannot estimate if it will be a profit or loss,” Kwan said.
A similar project on the other side of the park was gazetted in 2017 and was recently tendered for HK$1.24 billion.
Tam, a resident who lives on Kwai Heung Street, said he wanted to exchange his 300 sq ft unit for a newer flat in the same location.
He said he hoped he could receive up to HK$9 million in compensation.
“This building has the best location. I have been living in this neighbourhood since I was 30 years old, I don’t want to move anywhere else,” said the visually impaired man in his 70s.