Page 65 - URA Annual Report 2020-21

Facilitating the Renewal Process
One of the critical success factors of urban renewal is how well our works can create satisfaction, happiness, goodwill and values among the community stakeholders. While a redevelopment process usually takes about eight to ten years to complete, it is of vital importance to formulate effective renewal policies and processes in order to facilitate tenants’ relocation, and to enhance understanding, address needs and promote collaboration with our stakeholders in redevelopment projects. On the rehabilitation side, our initiatives to equip building owners with self-help tools and relevant knowledge have not only facilitated but also empowered them to take part in the urban renewal process with much ease and confidence.
Tackling Health Risk during Operation
The URA has developed different tools by applying advanced technologies to facilitate the urban renewal process under the pandemic. On the commencement of redevelopment projects, the URA would conduct freezing surveys with affected residents. To safeguard the health of both the interviewers and the affected residents in the project area, the URA launched the ‘Health Code’ mobile application in October 2020 to send alerts on potential COVID-19 exposure. Interviewers can also show their negative results of Deep Throat Saliva Test to residents. Incorporating the list of buildings with confirmed COVID-19 cases announced by the Government and facilitated by the Global Positioning System (GPS), the application generates alerts to remind staff not to enter the affected buildings. Notifications would be sent when staff are within 200 metres of a building with confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 to remind them to keep a safe distance. The URA’s ‘Health Code’ application has been well received since its launch.
An upgraded version of ‘Health Code 2.0’ was launched in November 2020, offering more assurance on privacy protection and a more user-friendly interface which displays data of affected buildings on a map with search function. The upgraded version also enables residents to track the health reporting status of URA staff through a three-colour display of green, yellow and red.
URA staff reassure affected residents by showing their negative results of Deep Throat Saliva Test during freezing surveys.
URA ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21 61
Corporate Sustainability Management Discussion and Analysis Projects at a Glance Corporate Governance