Press Releases
Year 2016
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25 May 2016
URA to hold international conference on urban renewal to celebrate 15th anniversary
The Urban Renewal Authority today (Wednesday) announced that it will host an international conference on 10 June 2016 on the occasion of its 15th Anniversary to bring together a panel of leading experts from around the world to discuss and share their knowledge and experience in urban regeneration. Entitled "Bringing Innovations to Urban Renewal", the full-day conference will focus on the discussion of urban development and restoration of building structures which will be exemplified by thought-provoking case studies of different cities with the aim to shed light on the best way forward for the development of urban renewal in Hong Kong. The conference will be held at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Chairman of the Urban Renewal Authority, Mr Victor So, said: "As a dynamic
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20 May 2016
323 units sold under URA’s Subsidised Sale Flat Scheme at Kai Tak development
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has sold 323 flats (comprising eight studio, 213 one-bedroom and 102 two-bedroom units) out of the 338 flats designated for sale as subsidised sale flats under its Subsidised Sale Flat (SSF) Scheme at the Kai Tak development when the sale closed today (Friday). The URA Board will decide on the appropriate disposal arrangement for the unsold SSF flats, pending the sale of them at the market price in the open market after 31 December 2016. The URA received a total of 12,642 preliminarily verified applications for the SSF Scheme during the application period which expired early this year, of which 3,068 were confirmed eligible applicants (2,102 single person applicants and 966 family applicants). The URA has commenced the sale of flats under SSF Scheme si
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19 May 2016
URA welcomes appointment of Wai Chi-sing as Managing Director
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Thursday) welcomes the Government's appointment of Mr Wai Chi-sing as Managing Director of the URA for a term of three years with effect from 15 June 2016. The Chairman of the URA, Mr Victor So Hing-woh, said: "Mr Wai is a professional engineer and had served in various government departments and bureaux for many years. His wealth of administration experience and profound knowledge will be invaluable to driving and strengthening the URA's efforts in urban regeneration in the years to come." Mr So also expressed his gratitude to Mr Daniel C Lam for his contribution as the Managing Director in the past year to lead the work of the URA. "Mr Lam has been a non-executive director of the URA Board appointed by the Government since 2008, giving his
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18 May 2016
19 applications received for 5th round of demand-led redevelopment project (pilot scheme)
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced that 19 applications have been received for the fifth round of the demand-led redevelopment project (pilot scheme) when the deadline for submission closed at 5pm today (Wednesday). All applications will go through a stringent screening and scoring process. Conditions of buildings will be considered with the relevant weighting set at 50 percent. Other factors being considered are project implementability and financial factors. A spokesman for the URA said: "Any selected project(s) from the fifth round will be included in the URA's 2016/17 Business Plan for implementation subject to obtaining approval from the Financial Secretary." The continued implementation of a selected project is subject to the fulfillment of two conditions precedent, n
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11 May 2016
URA introduces special one-off rehabilitation package for Chun Tin Street/Sung Chi Street development scheme
The Urban Renewal Authority today (Wednesday) announced a special one-off rehabilitation package will be offered to affected owners and tenants of the Chun Tin Street/Sung Chi Street Development Scheme (KC-008(A)), commenced on 6 May 2016, to provide technical and financial assistance to affected owners and tenants to carry out building rehabilitation works to their units and buildings. The URA introduced this special one-off rehabilitation package after taking careful consideration of the unique circumstances of the KC-008(A) Development Scheme, which covers the same buildings of KC-008 Development Project, which has not yet been authorised by the Secretary of Development and was withdrawn by the URA on 6 May. The Authority has also taken into account the long time involved in getting
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10 May 2016
URA launches “Smart Tender” Building Rehabilitation Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme)
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Tuesday) launched the "Smart Tender" Building Rehabilitation Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) which aimed to provide technical service to Owners' Corporations of private buildings and reduce the risk of tender rigging at works procurement stage. The launching ceremony is officiated by Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, and Chairman of the URA, Mr Victor So. Speaking at the ceremony, Ms So said: "Building rehabilitation is an important segment of urban renewal and one of the URA's core businesses. This facilitating service intends to provide a fair, impartial and competitive tendering process for building rehabilitation works to be undertaken by the building owners, with a view to encourage more owners to carry out proper maintenance
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6 May 2016
URA commences a development scheme at Chun Tin Street/Sung Chi Street for better planning and community benefits
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Friday) commenced the Chun Tin Street/Sung Chi Street (KC-008(A)) project in Kowloon City, covering Nos. 2 - 24 Chun Tin Street (even number) and Nos. 2 - 4 Hok Yuen Street (even number) and Chun Tin Street. It will be implemented by way of a development scheme under section 25 of the URA Ordinance. The URA, concurrently, announced its decision to withdraw the Chun Tin Street/Sung Chi Street development project (KC-008) covering the same buildings, which was commenced in January 2015. The implementation of KC-008 project will thus be discontinued immediately. The decision of withdrawal of KC-008 project is published in the gazette notice today. At a media briefing to outline details of the development scheme, Director (Planning and Design), M
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3 May 2016
URA provides Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) to buildings developed under Civil Servants’ Co-operative Building Society Scheme
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will accept applications from owners of buildings developed under the Civil Servants' Co-operative Building Society (CBS) Scheme for the Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) starting from today (Tuesday) as a queue has been designated for their applications, including those from the Government Built Housing Scheme (GBHS). Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) was one of the new initiatives set out in the 2011 Urban Renewal Strategy which enables the URA to take a more diverse approach in urban renewal. Under the Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) for CBS buildings, the URA will act as a facilitator to provide consultation service to help owners under CBS and GBHS buildings assemble their property interests and assist them to remove alienation restricti
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29 Apr 2016
URA welcomes appointments to the Board
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Friday) welcomes the Government's re-appointment of Mr Victor So Hing-woh as the Chairman of the URA Board, as well as the appointments of three new non-executive directors (non-official) and re-appointments of nine non-executive directors (non-official) to the URA Board, with their tenure ending on 30 April 2019. "I am honoured to be re-appointed Chairman of the URA Board. I am much obliged to the trust that the Government has placed in me, and the opportunity to continue to work with the URA Board in leading the effort to further urban renewal in Hong Kong," said Mr Victor So. The three new appointees are Ms Judy Chan Ka-pui, Mr Roger Luk Koon-ho and Mrs Cecilia Wong Ng Kit-wah. The nine re-appointed incumbent non-executive directors are Legi
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22 Apr 2016
Invitation to Tender for Development of Pine Street/Oak Street Demand-led Project in Tai Kok Tsui
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Friday) invited a total of 29 property developers to tender for the development of Pine Street/Oak Street demand-led project in Tai Kok Tsui. Following the expression of interest exercise closed on 6 April 2016, a tender review panel under the URA Board has decided to invite 29 qualified property developers to tender for the project (full list at annex), after taking into consideration their experience and financial strength to undertake the development in accordance with the requirements and criteria set by the Authority. All tender submissions should reach the URA Headquarters at 26/F, COSCO Tower, 183 Queen's Road Central, by 12:00 noon on Thursday, 26 May 2016. The project site covers an area of about 767 square metres. Upon completion, it