The Hong Kong Special Administrative government will spend HK$6.8 billion ($870 million) to buy back from owners all the flats destroyed in last year’s devastating fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po – offering between HK$8,000 and HK$10,500 per square foot.
The acquisition plan was unveiled on Saturday as part of a long-term resettlement plan for the victims of the city’s deadliest blaze in decades that tore through seven of the residential estate’s eight high-rise blocks built under the Home Ownership Scheme.
The acquisition prices are set at HK$8,000 per square foot for properties that lack land premium clearance, and at HK$10,500 per square foot for those with premiums paid, Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said.
An SAR government survey conducted from January this year established the prices at HK$6,000 and HK$8,000 per square foot, respectively, a rate validated by the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors.
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According to Wong, the total acquisition cost is estimated at HK$6.8 billion, of which the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po is expected to cover HK$2.8 billion, leaving public funds to foot the remaining HK$4 billion.
The long-term resettlement proposal came about three months after the fifth-alarm tragic inferno on Nov 6 last year that claimed 168 lives.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said laboratory findings have shown that the seven fire-ravaged 31-story buildings are structurally compromised beyond repair.
For residents of Wang Chi House – the only block spared by the flames -- Wong clarified that the buyback package currently does not extend to the untouched tower, but further discussions are possible if its owners could reach a “high degree of consensus” to sell their properties to the government.
Cash buyback is offered along with a flat-for-flat exchange option, according to the authorities.
Wong said the government’s offer of cash compensation, paired with the flat-for-flat exchange option, is the “fastest and most flexible” path forward for the affected residents to secure long-term housing and resume normal lives. The authorities will assume responsibility for all post-acquisition legal and insurance complications.
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He also emphasized that the rehousing arrangement is a special case and will not be a precedent, given that the fire was “unprecedented”, and had inflicted “significant losses” on and “immense challenges” for the victims.
According to Wong, the January survey, which covered 99 per cent of all affected apartment owners, found 74 per cent of the respondents willing to consider the government’s acquisition offer, while 12 per cent ruled it out, and 14 per cent said they remained undecided.
Ho said owners willing to sell their properties will receive a cash payout and can shop on the open market at once. Broadening the options, the authorities will also roll out a dedicated program that offers for sale HOS apartments and units provided by the Hong Kong Housing Society.
The program has assembled a portfolio of 10 housing development projects citywide, totaling 3,900 units – tripling the number of the affected households at Wang Fuk Court. The projects include Shing Chi Court in Kowloon Bay, with keys promised to be handed over by end of this year.
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Ho said the government’s acquisition price is sufficient to purchase flats in most of the projects under the sales program.
At a press conference, Wong also ruled out on-site redevelopment of Wang Fuk Court, saying that the seven affected buildings will most likely be demolished, and the land repurposed for parks and other community facilities.
Legislator Christine Fong Kwok-shan welcomed the resettlement package offered, saying it’s a practical relief for residents, most of whom are the elderly.
“The plan can simplify the complex insurance claim processes, and owners will not have to endure long waits and frustrations”, she said in a social media post shortly after the announcement.
Another lawmaker, Stanley Ng Chau-pei, also supported the plan.
He praised the package as “grounded in the feelings (for the victims), reason and the law”, having presented residents with multiple workable choices, and for “wisely using” public funds to appropriately raise the acquisition price.
“The package is designed in a way that’s not just resettling Wang Fuk Court’s residents, but to lay to rest the concerns and anxieties of all people across Hong Kong who’ve been closely watching the situation,” Ng said.
