Editorial | Much to gain and lose at Hong Kong’s Choi Hung Estate
Renewal of ageing Kowloon site will provide an extra 9,200 public housing flats, but remove a colourful social media hotspot
Urban renewal is nothing unusual in a city with an appetite for development. Yet the makeover of a six decades old public housing estate is still generating much public attention, and not just because it will remove an Instagram hotspot or go beyond the city’s symbolic timeline of 2047.
From optimising land use to rehousing affected families and shops, a lot is at stake.
The sprawling rainbow-coloured Choi Hung Estate, near Kai Tak, is home to about 7,400 households in 11 seven- to 20-storey blocks built between 1962 and 1964. The first batch of affected tenants will be relocated to the redeveloped Mei Tung Estate starting from 2028.
The second-stage development is slated for around 2035, with the final phase to be completed by 2048-49, making it one of the longest redevelopment projects in Hong Kong’s history.
Being uprooted from a place where one feels a strong sense of belonging is never easy. That is why the multibillion-dollar project has been greeted with such mixed emotions.
