Private Sector-Led Urban Renewal in Hong Kong

PRIVATE SECTOR-LED URBAN RENEWAL
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Private Sector-Led Urban Renewal  Hong Kong’s private sector comprises holders of land deeds and real estate. Others actors are local citizens, landowners, and entrepreneurs. Private sector stakeholders have significant capital investment and participate in an auction involving land bidding. They submit their plan for land use to the government authorities and apply for construction works. The four primary private developers in Hong Kong include the New World Development Company Limited, Henderson Land Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties, and Cheung Kong Holdings. Urban renewal should be leading the private sector, so the paper focuses on its strengths and weaknesses. The primary strength of urban renewal led by the private sector is sufficient resources. In particular, private developers, such as Henderson Land Development and Sun Hung Kai Properties, have adequate resources to innovate in infrastructure development. They can facilitate the processing of urban renewal by adhering to the highest quality standards, on-time delivery, and best value. Hong Kong is a vibrant city experiencing rapid changes, including urban redevelopment, policy review, and economic restructuring (Ho, 2012, p.110). The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) core issues involve self-paying operating loss restrictions and the lack of proper financial management strategies. In other words, the private sector manages funds well to facilitate infrastructure redevelopment. Notably, the government does not have the bargaining power and the ability to carry out development projects independently. That’s why it would be better to rely on private developers. In addition, successful urban renewal fosters economic growth by creating jobs for the residents, and the government generates more revenues. Since private developers have sufficient resources, they will hasten infrastructure developments such that citizens in old districts would not continue to live in deplorable environments. Other crucial strengths of private sector-led urban renewal are increasing employment opportunities and improving social security. When it comes to resource availability, private developers dominate. Besides, private developers can strike a deal with URA to prioritize profit maximization. The entire Hong Kong community would benefit from the multiple construction jobs created by urban renewal that might take an extended period. For example, planning and engineering can create at least 3,000 jobs annually, particularly the Kwun Tong renewal project. The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is currently planning to build about 18,000 new homes, meaning more jobs will be created for such a big project (Ng, 2021). Besides, constructed facilities will require people from different professions to manage them. Communities would benefit from proper sanitation. URA has been buying old buildings in Hong Kong since 2000. Tai Kok Tsui has significantly benefited from this project, and this old district has been repositioned to a comprehensive residential and commercial area (URA, 2005). As a result, the private sector is committed to improving infrastructure, sanitation, building new homes, and creating more job opportunities. On the contrary, despite private sectors having benefits when leading urban renewal, they also have several disadvantages. Compulsory action might occur when small-scale owners with less bargaining power fai...