Outgoing URA executive signals acquisition compensation policy changes
發佈日期: 2025-06-13 21:02
TVB News
The government has granted land to the Urban Renewal Authority to ease its financial strain.
Outgoing Managing Director of URA Wai Chi-sing, who will retire in mid-June, said more land grands might follow.
And he thinks this is a good opportunity for a review of the current compensation mechanism under which old buildings are acquired based on the market price of seven-year-old flats in the same district.
After three consecutive years in the red, the Urban Renewal Authority received two government land parcels last week valued at 13.2 billion dollars, granted at a nominal premium of 1,000 dollars to ease its financial woes.
Wai Chi-sing, URA's managing director, is ending his nine-year term in mid-June.
He said the nine-hectare plot of land in Area 137 in Tseung Kwan O can offer an opportunity to trial new acquisition models instead of the current compensation mechanism.
Wai said one possible option is expanding the flat-for-flat swapping scheme.
Because of the property market downturn in the past few years, the URA's cash compensation mechanism has led to the body purchasing properties at high prices before the slump and selling at lower rates in recent years, contributing to its deficits.
Wai said it is time to review this more-than-20-year-old policy. He added one long-term solution is to refine the maintenance work on aging buildings to buy time for undertaking large-scale redevelopment projects.
As of March last year, the URA held 18.2 billion dollars in working capital and had a net asset value of 46.4 billion dollars.
But in the coming years, the URA will need about 23.5 billion dollars to acquire old buildings for six redevelopment projects.
Wai believes the government will continue granting land to the URA and revealed it may issue bonds or borrow funds again in the second half of the year.
