URA issues conditional offers to owners of To Kwa Wan Road demand-led redevelopment project

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Wednesday) issued conditional acquisition offers to property owners affected by the To Kwa Wan Road demand-led redevelopment project in To Kwa Wan, Kowloon.

Eligible owner-occupiers of domestic properties of Nos. 68A - 70C To Kwa Wan Road (even numbers) are offered $10,078 per square foot of saleable area which is equivalent to the unit rate of a notional replacement flat of seven-year-old situated in similar locality and of similar size.

Details of the conditional offers are spelt out in letters to owners of 129 property interests who will have 75 days to consider and accept the offers. There must be an acceptance of URA's conditional offers with execution of Conditional Sale and Purchase Agreements by owners of not less than 80 percent of undivided shares of each lot in the redevelopment site within the said 75 days before the project will take a further step for implementation.

If acceptance of the conditional offers up to the said level of 80 percent is successfully attained and if the project submitted by URA to the Government has been authorised by the Government, the URA will then notify owners to complete the acquisition 30 days after the gazettal of authorisation if there is no appeal or after the dismissal of all appeals. Otherwise, the project will be aborted. 

The prevailing property acquisition principles of the URA will be applicable to the To Kwa Wan Road demand-led project, same as other URA-initiated projects.

The URA will organise briefings for the affected owners, residents and shop operators next week to explain to them the acquisition and compensation and rehousing arrangements.  An urban renewal social service team staffed by professional social workers of Salvation Army, which is appointed by the Urban Renewal Fund, will provide counselling and practical assistance that the residents may need. The contact number of the social service team is 3586 3095. 

The project occupies an area of about 1,200 square metres with seven street numbers of buildings. The URA's current proposal is to redevelop the project to provide about 7,800 square metres of residential floor area for about 150 residential units of small to medium size.  It will also provide some 150 square metres of commercial area and 830 square metres of Government/Institution and Community facilities. The project is tentatively scheduled for completion by 2020/2021.  

(ENDS)