New outlook: Lai Chi Kok Road-Kweilin Street and Yee Kuk Street sites will be redeveloped to offer 390 residential units.

Purchase offers have been issued to owners of 160 properties affected by the Lai Chi Kok Road-Kweilin Street and Yee Kuk Street development scheme in Sham Shui Po, the Urban Renewal Authority says.

Measuring 35,500 square feet, the two adjacent project sites include 320 households comprising 800 residents, living in 17 buildings that were mostly built in the 1950s. Owner-occupiers of domestic properties will be offered $3,894 per square foot on a saleable area basis. The owners will have ample time to consider the offers and to accept them within the next 60 days.

Owners who live there will receive a home purchase allowance on top of the market value of the properties concerned. The total compensation amount will be the value of a seven-year-old flat of average quality in Sham Shui Po.

Additional incentive

In addition, an incidental cost allowance will be offered as an incentive to domestic property owners, serving as a subsidy for the removal and other expenses normally incurred in the purchase of a replacement flat. For this project, the incidental cost allowance for owner-occupied domestic property is $ 95,000, or $1,025 per square metre, on a saleable area basis, whichever is higher. For domestic property that is tenanted or vacant, the incidental cost allowance is $72,500. 

Landlords of tenanted or vacant flats, who have no immediate need for a replacement home, will receive a supplementary allowance equivalent to half of the home purchase allowance in addition to the open market value of their properties.

For non-domestic properties, the acquisition offers will include an ex-gratia allowance on top of the open market value. The allowance for tenanted or vacant non-domestic property is 10% of its market value or one time the government rateable value, whichever is higher. The allowance for owner-occupied non-domestic property is 35% of its market value or four times its rateable value, whichever is higher.

Project costs $1.34b

The authority's initial proposal is to redevelop the sites to provide about 390 residential units, 50,000 square feet of commercial floor area and 4,300 square feet of open space for public use, subject to the endorsement of the Town Planning Board. Including the $654 million for acquisition and rehousing, the project will cost about $1.34 billion.

Briefing sessions will be held next week to explain to the owners and tenants the authority's acquisition and compensation and rehousing arrangements. For enquiries, call the authority's Tai Kok Tsui neighbourhood centre at 2391 2992 or hotline 2588 2333.