Page 73 - Urban Renewal Authority 2023-24 Annual Report

Opportunities Chairman’s Statement

A Multi-pronged Approach to Optimise Land Efficiency and Development Potential
To maximise planning and social gains from urban renewal projects for the wider community, the URA has, in
recent years, adopted a holistic and forward looking “planning-led” and “district-based” approach to cater for
the needs of Hong Kong. Apart from exploring restructuring and replanning opportunities in the project areas
under the “planning-led” approach, the URA also applies new planning tools and concepts to optimise land use Managing Director’s Statement
efficiency and maximise redevelopment potential of the old urban districts, thereby enhancing the financial
viability and planning gains of the renewal projects.

One of the examples of maximising land resource utilisation is the Sai Yee Street/Flower Market Road Project
(YTM-013). In addition to adopting “Transfer of Plot Ratio” which allows the migration of development potential
from the four small lots along Flower Market Road and Yuen Ngai Street to the main site at Sai Yee Street
enabling a greater scale development, the “Single Site, Multiple Use” model also permits the building of a multi-
purpose complex with upgraded facilities for government and community uses, and mixed residential and
commercial uses such as hotel/office/retail to multiply planning gains. In Development Areas 4 and 5 of Kwun
Tong Town Centre Project (K7), the innovative planning concept of “Vertical City” enables the integration of Operating Review
multiple uses including domestic uses into one vertical environment, hence optimising the land potential at the
strategic location and attracting potential private developers to take part in the joint venture (JV). This mixed-use
development is further complemented by “Floating Planning Parameters” which provides the JV developer with
the flexibility to determine the actual Gross Floor Area (GFA) within specific ranges for residential, retail, office
and hotel uses according to the market situation on the condition that the total GFA would remain unchanged.
To alleviate the financial burden from acquisition under the uncertain market outlook, the URA has focused on
implementing projects that do not involve the acquisition of a large number of property rights but will bring
significant improvement to the old district’s environment. One of the ways is to integrate under-utilised Corporate Sustainability
Government land and sub-standard Government, Institution and Community (G/IC) facilities with URA’s projects
to improve land resource utilisation, maximise planning and social gains, as well as enhancing the financial
performance of the redevelopment, as demonstrated in the implementation of YTM-013, Cheung Wah Street/
Cheung Sha Wan Road Project (SSP-018) and Nga Tsin Wai Road/Carpenter Road Project (KC-017). Since 2020,
around six hectares of Government land have been included in 11 of the URA’s redevelopment projects, with
around 4.9 hectares expected to be granted in eight of the URA redevelopment projects in the coming five
years.
To incentivise private market participation in urban renewal to address the problem of urban decay which the
URA alone is unable to do so, since the completion of Yau Mong District Study (YMDS), the URA has been closely
collaborating with relevant Government departments and achieved major progress in taking forward the new
planning tools identified from YMDS, including the amendment of Outline Zoning Plans in Mong Kok and Yau Management Discussion and Analysis
Ma Tei, the promulgation of new guidelines for application for Transfer of Plot Ratio and proposed mechanisms
for piloting Street Consolidation Areas (SCAs). As announced in the 2023 Policy Address, the URA has included
redevelopment projects involving SCAs in Yau Ma Tei South in the approved 23rd Corporate Plan for future
implementation. Projects at a Glance

URA ANNUAL REPORT 2023-24 71 Corporate Governance