About 2 million people live in public rental housing of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. With social mobility and population growth, people moving in and out of public housing estates is a common sight.

However, as the last six families left the old Lower Ngau Tau Kok (Lower NTK) estate last week, the event had a special meaning. Their departure marked the completion of the Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme, a housing project straddling the 20th and 21st centuries that helped change the lives of many families. 

Twenty-one years ago, the Housing Authority launched an ambitious programme to improve the environment and living standards of its tenants. While there had been isolated redevelopment programmes in the past, the programme out-performed them all in both scope and scale.

The programme covered a total of 57 Resettlement Estates as well as the former Government Low Cost Housing Estates. They were demolished in stages and affected tenants had to move out to make way for development.

The largest estate to undergo redevelopment under the programme was Tsz Wan Shan Estate, comprising 63 blocks with about 80,000 residents at the time. The project was carried out in four stages, spanning eight years from 1989 to 1997.  

The programme was a mammoth task. The 57 estates consisted of 566 blocks and a total population of 630,000. The redevelopment schedule was based on a five-year rolling programme. Estate by estate, old blocks were pulled down and in their place were built new housing units with a better living environment, modern facilities and better community services.

With the demolition and building work involved, it is all too easy to think of the programme as a bricks and mortar job. Yet in the planning and implementation of the exercise, the Housing Authority put people issues first on the priority list. Only with adequate rehousing for the tenants and a smooth evacuation process could redevelopment take place.

Rehousing is a complex exercise, involving registration of residents, vetting and then resettlement. Very often, the affected tenants are elderly tenants who have lived in the old estate for decades. They are used to the environment and the community and have nurtured a sense of security of living among people they have known for years.

The Housing Authority is well aware of these important community ties and has tried to be as flexible and accommodating as possible in the rehousing exercise.

The Lower NTK project is a very good demonstration of how the Housing Authority puts people first in the programme. By assigning Upper Ngau Tau Kok (Upper NTK) as the reception estate for Lower NTK (II) tenants, the uncertainty of moving to a new neighbourhood - something that can be daunting to elderly residents - is removed. Based on our customer-oriented principle, tenants were invited to consultation sessions so that their views about the Upper NTK estate were actually incorporated into the final design of the new estate.

While still nostalgic about the good old days living in Lower NTK, our tenants, I am sure, will appreciate the improved standards after their move into Upper NTK, an estate designed and built for them.

Lower NTK was divided into two parts. Residents of Lower NTK (I) moved out in 2003 and building work has already started on the old site. Tenants of Lower NTK (II) started moving out in May last year. About 80% of the total population of 9,000 moved into Upper NTK while the remaining 20% chose to move to other estates.

After the last batch moved out last week, the clearance of Lower NTK was completed. Building work will start soon on the Lower NTK (II) site. Apart from public housing, there will also be facilities providing community services for the neighbourhood. 

The story of Lower NTK brings out the core spirit of the programme, which is that tenants come first. In the past 20 years, there have been many projects but only one aim - to improve the living environment of public housing tenants. As they need not worry about their housing needs, our tenants have a strong home base and concentrate their efforts on striving for a better future.  

The successful conclusion of the Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme is the fruit of hard work by Housing Department staff who deserve recognition. My thanks also go to past Housing Authority chairmen, and past and current Housing Authority members for their valuable advice and unfailing support.