Press Releases
Year 2023
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21 Dec 2023
Celebration Ceremony for the URA’s “7 Bears in Town@Kwun Tong” Christmas Carnival
Heralding the arrival of Christmas, a celebration ceremony was staged today (21 December 2023) for the “7 Bears in Town@Kwun Tong” Christmas Carnival, an inaugural mega outdoor festive event at Kwun Tong Town Centre organised by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA). The ceremony was officiated by the Guest of Honour, Mr Michael Wong, Deputy Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, in the company of Mr Chow Chung-kong, Chairman of the URA, Ir Wai Chi-sing, Managing Director of the URA, Mr Denny Ho, District Officer (Kwun Tong) of the Kwun Tong District Office, and Ms Bella Chhoa, Director of Asset Management at Sino Group. At the ceremony, the guests enjoyed a giant animation projection and an orchestra performance by Cheung Sha Wan Catholic Secondary School, tog
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14 Dec 2023
Tender Award – URA’s Shing Tak Street / Ma Tau Chung Road Development Project
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced today (14 December 2023) that the contract for the development of the Shing Tak Street / Ma Tau Chung Road Development Project (the Project) in Kowloon City has been awarded to Asia Region Limited, which is a consortium consisting of Sino Land Company Limited, China Merchants Land Limited and Great Eagle Holdings Limited, for a tender amount of HK$1,934 million. According to the development contract, Asia Region Limited shall reserve three flats on the lower residential floors of the Project for the implementation of the URA’s “in-situ” Flat-for-Flat Scheme. The accommodation value of the Project, after taking into account the construction cost and gross floor area of the reserved flats, is therefore estimated at HK$4,694 per square foot.
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1 Dec 2023
URA Welcomes Appointments to the Board
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (1 December 2023) welcomes the Government’s appointment / re-appointment of five non-executive directors (non-official) of the URA Board for a term of three years with effect from today. The two new non-official non-executive directors are Mr Alexander Lam Tsan-wing and Mr Lee Chun-keung. The three re-appointed non-official non-executive directors are Mr William Chan Fu-keung, Mr Kwok Wai-keung and Mr Tony Tse Wai-chuen. The Chairman of the URA, Mr Chow Chung-kong, welcomed the appointment. “The members of the Board come from a wide spectrum of professions and sectors in the community who possess extensive experience and have outstanding performance in their respective field of expertise. Their involvement will support the URA in fulfilling
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1 Dec 2023
URA Welcomes S&P’s Decision to Affirm URA’s Rating at “AA+”
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) welcomes Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) decision to affirm the URA’s long-term issuer credit and senior unsecured notes rating of “AA+”, and raised the “Likelihood of Extraordinary Government Support” from “Extremely High” to “Almost Certain”, with “Stable” outlook. S&P has upgraded the “Likelihood of Extraordinary Government Support” for the URA in recognition of its irreplaceable role as a key contributor to the city’s urban renewal, which is reflected by the volume of additional tasks assigned by the Government in recent years to the URA including the commissioning of large-scale district studies for Shum Shui Po and Tsuen Wan to tackle urban decay. In addition, as mentioned in the 2023 Policy Address, significant resources will be allocated to enhance t
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29 Nov 2023
URA Completes Random Assignment of Priority Numbers for eResidence Tower 3 “Starter Homes” Applications
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (29 November 2023) conducted a random assignment of priority numbers (random assignment) for all of the 3,669 valid applications for the 260 “Starter Homes” units at eResidence Tower 3, a URA Starter Homes for Hong Kong Residents Project. The random assignment was attended by Mr Ho Hin-ming, Chairman of the Kowloon City District Council, and Ms Winnie Koo, Director (Property and Land) of the URA. The entire process was overseen by Mr Libra Fung, CPA (Practising) from Lui & Mak CPA Limited, and recorded on video. 10 seed numbers were drawn by Mr Ho and Ms Koo for the random assignment computer programme, which generated a priority number for each application through a computing process. The list of assigned priority numbers and the video
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28 Nov 2023
URA to Conduct Random Assignment of Priority Numbers Tomorrow for eResidence Tower 3 “Starter Homes” Applications
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will conduct a random assignment of priority numbers (random assignment) tomorrow (29 November 2023) for all of the 3,669 valid applications for the 260 units of the URA’s eResidence Tower 3 Starter Homes for Hong Kong Residents Project. A computer programme developed by the URA will assign a random priority number to each application. The entire process of random assignment will be overseen by a professional independent accountant and recorded on video for archival purpose. When the random assignment is completed, the list of assigned priority numbers and the video recording will be uploaded to the eResidence Tower 3 website (www.eresidencet3.hk) on the same day. The URA will notify all applicants of their assigned numbers by mail within three wo
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16 Nov 2023
Six Tender Submissions Received for the URA’s Shing Tak Street / Ma Tau Chung Road Development Project
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) received a total of six tender submissions for the development of the Shing Tak Street / Ma Tau Chung Road Development Project (the Project) in Kowloon City before the deadline for submission at noon today (16 November 2023). A tender review panel under the URA Board will carefully examine the submissions received and recommend to the URA Board to make the decision regarding the award of the development contract of the Project. The URA earlier invited interested developers and consortia to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the Project. After careful consideration of the EOIs received, the URA invited 32 qualified developers and consortia to submit tenders for the development of the Project according to the principal tender terms previously
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27 Oct 2023
3,670 Applications Received for “Starter Homes” Units at the URA’s eResidence Tower 3
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) received 3,670 applications for the 260 units at eResidence Tower 3, a Starter Homes for Hong Kong Residents (SH) Project during the application period which ended on 18 October 2023. According to initial statistics, around 67% of the applications were from individuals, while approximately 33% came from families. Within the family applicants, two-person households made up the majority, accounting for 21% of the total. The majority of applicants, about 86%, were young people under the age of 40. During the application period, the sales office and show flats received over 3,240 visitors. Meanwhile, the dedicated hotline for the SH project answered about 490 enquiries. Over 80% of them specifically related to the eligibility requirements for applica
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25 Oct 2023
Responses by URA to 2023 Policy Address
In response to the announcement made by the Chief Executive in the 2023 Policy Address today (25 October 2023) on the new initiatives to enhance the efficiency of urban renewal and building safety, a spokesperson for the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) said the URA welcomes the new initiatives and will fully support their implementation. The URA shares the view as mentioned in the Policy Address that it is necessary to speed up redevelopment and step up maintenance of aged buildings at the same time so as to address the issue of urban decay and ageing buildings. The URA has all along emphasised the importance of building maintenance to prolong the service life of buildings, thus alleviating the pressure on redevelopment. The city then is able to optimise its resources to redevelop t
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24 Oct 2023
31 Expressions of Interest Received for URA’s Kai Tak Road / Sa Po Road Development Project
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) received a total of 31 Expressions of Interest for the development of its Kai Tak Road / Sa Po Road Development Project (the Project) in Kowloon City before the deadline for submission at noon today (24 October 2023). A tender review panel under the URA Board will evaluate the submissions and to shortlist qualified developers and consortia based on their experience and financial capability. The shortlisted developers and consortia will be invited to submit tenders for the development of the Project according to the principal tender terms previously approved by the URA Board. (ENDS)