The judiciary is planning to build a new District Court building at Caroline Hill Road in Causeway Bay which will start operation in 2027, costing around HK$5.8 billion.
In a document to lawmakers, the judiciary said the current district court and the family court in the Wanchai Tower, as well as the Lands Tribunal in Yau Ma Tei will be relocated to the new court building due to the deficiencies of the existing court premises.
The new district court building will provide a total net operational floor area of around 30,160 square meters -- 80 percent larger than the current areas of the three courts.
The judiciary said the new building will help it cope with the increased volume and complexity of court business. There was a 14.5 percent increase in the overall caseload of the three courts in five years, from 48,038 cases in 2015 to 55,010 cases in 2019.
“As from the second quarter of 2020, the judiciary has been facing unprecedented challenges arising from the upsurge of cases relating to social events,” it said, adding over 2,000 such cases have been brought before courts.
“By end 2021, around 300 criminal cases were received by the District Court, with about 200 cases yet to be disposed of. Many of them involve ten or more defendants and voluminous evidence, hence entailing long trials with some cases lasting over 20 to 30 days.”
However, there are only 43 courtrooms and 45 chambers at the current District Court and Lands Tribunal, the judiciary said, adding it’s far from enough to handle such a huge amount of cases.
It said the new court building will have 70 courtrooms, including two mega criminal courtrooms with 300 square meters each to cater for court hearings of cases that may involve a large number of defendants, legal representatives, media and public viewers.
The remaining 68 courtrooms -- 26 criminal courtrooms and 42 civil courtrooms -- will be of different sizes, ranging from 60 to 210 square meters so that they can meet the operational needs of different hearings.
All courtrooms will be equipped with enhanced facilities using prevailing technologies in support of court hearings and operations, the judiciary said, adding Wifi facilities and 5G services will also be provided in the court(s) building.
