Hai Tan Street/Kweilin Street and Pei Ho Street project in Sham Shui Po will begin property acquisition
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) would issue offer letters to
owners of 389 property interests affected by the Hai Tan
Street/Kweilin Street and Pei Ho Street project in Sham Shui Po in
two weeks. The Land, Rehousing & Compensation Committee
of the URA Board has decided today (Wednesday) that eligible
owner-occupiers of domestic properties would be offered $5,297 per
square foot of saleable floor area.
The acquisition offers for domestic properties are based on the
Government's Home Purchase Allowance (HPA) policy in which HPA is
the difference between the market value of the acquired property
and that of a notional seven-year-old flat of similar size in a
similar locality. In addition to the market value of the acquired
properties, eligible owner-occupiers will receive the full HPA
amount whereas owners of tenanted and vacant domestic properties
will receive a supplementary allowance (SA) up to half of the
HPA.
A spokesman of the URA said: "In accordance with established
mechanism, the URA has appointed seven independent valuation firms
for the valuation of the unit rate of the notional seven-year-old
flat."
For a building in single ownership, it is valued either on its
existing use value plus relevant allowances for shops and domestic
units in the building or on its redevelopment value plus 5% as
ex-gratia allowance, whichever is higher.
Apart from cash compensation, the URA has decided to extend the
"Expression of Interest in Purchasing Arrangement" pilot scheme to
this project so that owner-occupiers of domestic properties can
express to the URA their interest in getting an opportunity to
purchase a new flat in the new development at market price when the
project is offered for sale. This is designed for those who will
have a need to move back to the same location for personal reasons
such as to maintain their social networks.
The URA spokesman said affected owners will have ample time to
consider the URA's offers and to accept them within 60 days after
receiving the offers. Owners will also receive an incidental
cost allowance (ICA), where applicable, as an incentive for them to
accept the offers within the 60-day period. The current ICA
for owner-occupied domestic property is $111,900 or $98 per square
foot ($1,055 per square metre) of saleable floor area, whichever is
higher. For domestic property that is tenanted or vacant, the ICA
is $87,700.
For non-domestic properties, the acquisition offers to eligible
owners will include an ex-gratia allowance on top of the market
value. The allowance for tenanted or vacant non-domestic
property is 10 per cent of its market value or one time the
government rateable value, whichever is higher. The allowance
for owner-occupied non-domestic property is 35 per cent of its
market value or four times its rateable value, whichever is
higher.
Eligible shop owners who occupy the shops and shop tenants will
enjoy an additional Ex-gratia Business Allowance (EGBA) up to three
times rateable value (roughly equivalent to 36 months' rent)
payable at the rate of 0.1 time rateable value for each year of
continuous occupation of the premises up to a maximum of 30 years,
subject to a minimum amount of $70,000 and a maximum of $500,000.
This allowance is intended for alleviating the possible business
loss due to redevelopment.
Upon completion of the property acquisition, the URA will make
ex-gratia payment or rehousing arrangement for the tenants
concerned, if eligible. The total compensation and rehousing cost
is estimated at about $1.4 billion.
The URA will organise a series of briefings for the affected
owners, residents and shop operators to explain to them the
acquisition and compensation and rehousing arrangements. It
has also appointed an urban renewal social service team to provide
professional and practical services alongside URA frontline staff
for the affected residents. Residents and owners who want to
make enquiries may also call the URA hotline 2588 2333.
Covering a total area of about 80,000 square feet and three
adjourning sites, this development scheme, which was approved by
the Chief Executive in Council in June this year, will be the
largest of all the redevelopment projects in Sham Shui Po commenced
by the URA or jointly with Hong Kong Housing Society since
2002. Upon completion, which is expected to be in 2014, the
projects will deliver about 534,400 sq.ft. of residential floor
space and some 106,900 sq.ft. non-domestic
space.
(ENDS)