Commencement of Nga Tsin Wai Village Project
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Tuesday) announced the
commencement of the Nga Tsin Wai Village project in Wong Tai Sin,
by ways of an innovative preservation-cum-redevelopment
approach.
About 50 staff of the Authority today conducted an occupancy
survey at the village to ascertain the number of households and
their occupancy status for the purpose of compensation and
rehousing.
"The Salvation Army Urban Renewal Social Service Team together
with our front-line staff will pay special attention to those
households who may face personal or family problems during the
redevelopment process and provide assistance to them wherever
possible," a URA spokesman said.
Occupying a site area of about 49,900 square feet, two-thirds of
the village houses in the Nga Tsin Wai Village have been demolished
by private owners over the past two decades. The remaining
structures are very decrepit and the living conditions are poor due
to the lack of proper maintenance and sanitation facilities. It is
estimated that about 60 households are residing in 57 dilapidated
village houses, of which less than 12 per cent are considered by
heritage experts to be original.
The preservation and redevelopment of the Nga Tsin Wai Village,
which is estimated to cost approximately $1.24 billion, is one of
the redevelopment projects announced but not yet commenced by the
former Land Development Corporation in 1998. Over the past
years, the affected residents have repeatedly urged the URA for its
early implementation so as to improve their living
environment.
Depending on the work progress, the URA intends to issue
acquisition offers to individual property owners in about three
months' time. Upon completion of the property acquisition,
the URA will make compensation or rehousing arrangements for the
tenants concerned.
In response to community concerns and aspirations, the URA is
committed to preserving the remaining authentic historic relics and
recreating the village ambience as far as practicable. During an
earlier stage of public consultation, the villagers and the Wong
Tai Sin District Council have requested the URA to preserve three
relics of the village, namely the village gatehouse, the embedded
stone tablet and the Tin Hau Temple. However, the Authority has
decided to extend its conservation plan beyond these three relics
following a URA-commissioned study in January 2006 by a
conservation consultant team led by an internationally renowned
Malaysian conservation expert, Laurence Loh, who is also a member
of conservation expert panel of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Mr Loh recommended adopting an innovative concept of "Conservation
by Design" to achieve a "conservation-paramount" objective to
preserve as many authentic structures and elements as possible
whilst designing and recreating a walled village park to resurrect
the ambience of the 600 years of village history whilst residential
redevelopment could proceed in parallel.
To translate the concept into detailed design, the Authority then
commissioned an architectural and landscape design consultant team
led by Professor Bernard Lim of the Department of Architecture,
Chinese University of Hong Kong, to produce a
preservation-cum-redevelopment conceptual design in February
2007.
Under the current scheme, the central axis of the village with
eight authentic village houses in its path, as well as the overall
pattern of pedestrian lanes would be preserved as the core of the
village, in addition to preserving the three relics as requested by
the villagers and the District Council. Around this core area, a
conservation village park designed to resurrect the ambience of the
village could be constructed.
According to the "conservation-paramount" design, the residential
towers to be built would be pushed outward towards the northern and
southern perimeters as far as possible. This would mean
setting the towers about 120 feet apart, thus leaving at least 60
per cent of the site area open for the conservation park.
The design scheme also recommended that the residential towers be
lifted up to provide a vertical clearance of some 45 feet
from ground level so as to free up a maximum area of ground level
space to achieve "visual relief" for the conservation park.
A URA spokesman said: "We are very gratified to see that, after
examining the above proposals, both the villagers and the Wong Tai
Sin District Council have expressed strong support for the proposal
and urged for its expeditious implementation."
"Preservation and redevelopment are not necessarily conflicting or
mutually exclusive. We hope to make this a fine example of
preservation and redevelopment going hand in hand in a successful
manner," the spokesman said.
According to the current Outline Zoning Plan, the maximum
permissible plot ratios for domestic and non-domestic uses are
respectively 7.5 and 1.5.
With the announcement of the Nga Tsin Wai Village project, the URA
has commenced 33 redevelopment projects since its inception in
2001, of which 8 are in association with the Hong Kong Housing
Society. These projects involve a total development cost of about
$64 billion, bringing direct benefit to about 18,000
residents.
Members of the public are welcomed to call the URA hotline at 2588
2333 for general enquiries about the project. Affected residents
may also contact the Salvation Army Social Service Team at 2391
3483 for assistance and information.
(END)