Budget Speech

Urban Renewal

89.      The renewal of old areas aims to improve the living environment, re-structure land use for providing community facilities, and meet future development needs. Any redevelopment project is bound to face challenges in such areas as property acquisition and compensation, and the preservation of the characteristics and community networks of the old areas. Therefore, redevelopment cannot, and should not, be the only or the mainstream option. In last year's Budget, I encouraged various sectors of the community to participate in the review of the Urban Renewal Strategy. We recently completed Stage 1 of the review. In the remaining stages, we will continue to explore with the public the future direction for urban renewal in Hong Kong with an open mind.