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1. Relaxing law will spur urban renewal

1. Relaxing law will spur urban renewal
Dennis Chong, The Standard 30 March 2005

A proposal to relax a law governing redevelopment rights will encourage private developers to speed up the slow urban renewal progress, a surveyor said.

Under existing laws, a developer must own at least 90 percent of the property rights on a site before it can apply for a court order to acquire the rest.

The government proposed in a report released in January that the 90 percent ownership rule should be relaxed to ``facilitate the private sector's redevelopment work.''

A Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau spokesman said Tuesday the government intends to lower the threshold to 80 percent and a consultation on the proposal will be initiated by the end of this year.

The private sector has been hindered from acquiring old developments under the rule because it is difficult to reach the 90 percent benchmark, according to surveyor Lau Chun-kong, a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors.

There have been four such cases since the law - Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance - came into effect in June 1999.

Lau said a number of projects, on hold because redevelopers have acquired slightly less than 90 percent, could go ahead should the law be amended.

``The projects will become more financially viable, especially when the property market improves,'' he said.

The amended law may also lure owners of old flats to initiate redevelopment by unifying property rights before seeking funding from developers.

Urban Renewal Authority committee member Isaac Ng said the idea is especially good for developers with a small land reserve.

However, markets in low-value districts such as Tai Kok Tsui and Sham Shui Po may be less affected.

For the 10 years ending 2001, there were 143 accidents caused by unsafe buildings and illegal structures, according to the bureau's Taskforce on Building Safety and Preventive Maintenance.

A total of 101 people were killed in these accidents and 435 were injured.

The problem of unsafe buildings and illegal structures poses an ``urgent'' threat to the safety of citizens, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said in his last policy address in January.

While there are almost 10,000 buildings built more than 30 years ago, the government needs to deal with an estimated 600,000 illegal structures that have since been added to them.

Tung said HK$3 billion would be allocated to the Housing Society for free-interest loans to help residents maintain about 800 old buildings around the territory.

The government has also intensified its crackdown on illegal structures by increasing the fines for owners.

The maximum fine has jumped from HK$100,000 to HK$400,000.

The Buildings Department, which is responsible for getting rid of illegal additions, has a budget of HK$830 million this year to remove more than 180,000