The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has commenced the statutory planning procedures for the Queen’s Road West/Kwai Heung Street Development Project (C&W-007) in the Central and Western District in early December 2022. It aims to redevelop dilapidated buildings in compliance with modern standards; improve connectivity of the open spaces and the walking environment; enhance the overall cityscape; and regenerate the area’s built environment.
The project site, covering buildings of 15 street numbers, is currently occupied by about 100 families and 20 ground-floor shops. With no elevators, these four- to six-storey buildings are in poor conditions, and have been around for an average of 60 years.
The C&W-007 Project and the adjoining C&W-005 Project will enable a holistic restructuring of the area to bring greater planning benefits to the community. For example, the two projects will each contribute approximately 150 square metres of at-grade open space to integrate with the Sung Hing Lane Children’s Playground, creating a unified green space of around 1,000 square metres and making the area 40 per cent larger than the existing provision.
In the URA’s preliminary proposal, the C&W-007 Project is set to provide about 8,950 square metres of residential floor area for around 180 residential units. About 150 square metres of non-residential floor area will be designated for the provision of Government, Institution or Community facilities, and around 1,000 square metres for commercial/retail use.
As the project involves close to 80 property interests, the acquisition and compensation/rehousing offers to eligible tenants will start once authorisation from the Secretary for Development is received. It is estimated that acquisition offers will be made around the first half of 2024. Additionally, online video briefing sessions will be conducted on topics covering the planning procedure, prevailing acquisition and compensation arrangements. Plus, case officers will contact the affected households and business operators to explain the acquisition policies, timeline of the implementation as well as the latest progress of the projects. —Construction+ Online
Source: Urban Renewal Authority
