Govt passes 15-year project to rebuild Hong Kong’s iconic Choi Hung Estate

The project to rebuild Choi Hung Estate is expected to span around 15 years as the estate will provide some 9,200 units in three phases, up 24 percent from the current number of homes available, said Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin. 

Ho made the remark after the Strategic Planning Committee of the Housing Authority convened a meeting on Thursday and passed the estate’s rebuilding proposal. 

The government initially proposes rebuilding the Choi Hung Estate in three phases, each providing a total of 2,500 units. 

There are some 2,860 homes from Mei Tung Estate in the same district for the relocation of affected residents. Ho noted it would be sufficient to accommodate the residents affected by the first phase of the rebuild. 

She noted that many of the units in Mei Tung Estate are for one-person households, which match with Choi Hung Estate that holds about 20 percent of one-person households. 

The Wang Chiu Road Phase 2 site will also be transformed into a project under the Green Form Subsidized Home Ownership Scheme, putting up some 1,460 flats for residents to purchase. 

Ho pointed out that the estate – housing some 17,500 residents in about 7,400 households – is more than six decades old and maintenance would cost a lot money and require a lot of time. 

Ho said the Housing Authority will proactively get in touch with residents and local organizations to collect their opinions, hoping that the rainbow, where the Chinese words “Choi Hung” come from, will return with a new face. 

The housing minister stressed that the seven colors of the rainbow will definitely be added into the future design, allowing the estate to shine even brighter. 

She also hopes to seize the opportunity of rebuilding to make more space through better building designs and to improve the congested traffic around nearby areas.