The Housing Bureau today announced that it has selected four more sites in Kai Tak, Ngau Tau Kok, Chai Wan and Siu Lam to build light public housing (LPH) units.

Together with the four sites announced earlier in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Sheung Shui, the bureau has chosen eight sites for light public housing.

Among the 30,000 units to be completed in the coming five years, about half of them will be in urban areas. The internal floor area of light public housing units range from about 13 to 31 sq m.

Apart from having a self-contained toilet, shower area and open cooking space, each unit comes equipped with basic facilities such as a water heater and an exhaust fan.

Open spaces will be reserved at the estates for leisure and event organising purposes and to facilitate mutual assistance among the residents.

Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho hosted a briefing this afternoon on the latest progress of LPH projects. She also arranged for members of the Executive Council and Legislative Council and the media to visit the Kai Tak site that is estimated to provide more than 10,000 units.

At the briefing, Ms Ho said: “This is a very important social project. That is the value of light public housing, to save people and give them an option to move out of very very poor living conditions while they are still waiting for public rental housing.”

The bureau explained that compared to the similar design of transitional housing, the average unit cost of a low-rise LPH block of around three storeys is about $530,000 in money-of-the-day prices, which is similar to the $550,000 subsidy for each transitional housing unit.

For high-rise blocks of around 17 to 19 storeys, the average unit cost is about $650,000, it added.

Separately, Ms Ho earlier led a group of subdivided unit tenants to visit the LPH mock-up unit. In addition to being thrilled by the project, the group expressed that they are looking forward to improving their living conditions as soon as possible.