Judiciary mulls new HK$5.8b Causeway Bay District Court Building

The Judiciary has proposed to the Legco the construction of a HK$5.8 billion District Court Building on Caroline Hill Road in Causeway Bay, in order to re-provision and co-locate the city’s District Court, Family Court, and Lands Tribunal.

Speaking at a Legco Public Works Subcommittee meeting on Wednesday, Judiciary Administrator Esther Leung Yuet-yin told lawmakers that the new court building could shorten the wait time for the hearing of some court cases.

Leung noted that the Judiciary has seen an upsurge of cases relating to social events since 2019, with many of them involving multiple defendants and voluminous evidence, hence entailing long trials.

She believed that the new court building could allow the Judiciary more spaces to hire extra hands to expedite the handling of court cases.

According to Legco documents, the new court building will be built with a total of 70 courtrooms, representing an increase of 17 courtrooms as compared to the 53 courtrooms currently.

“The Architectural Services Department plans to commence the proposed works upon obtaining funding approval from the Finance Committee for target completion in around four and a half years…the commissioning of the District Court Building is expected to be in late 2027,” the document wrote.