Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday continued his tour of public housing projects in Hong Kong, saying Taipei would seek to establish channels of communication to learn from the territory’s experience.
On the second day of his tour, Hau visited the Hong Kong Housing Authority and Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate in Kowloon — a major housing project covered by a governmental program initiated in 1988 to rebuild old properties built before 1973.
The project, comprising nine blocks of at least 40 floors, is home to 16,000 low-income residents who were most affected by ongoing redevelopment at the Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate.
Agency officials said public housing projects like the estate were aimed at offering affordable housing for low-income and minority groups.
About 30 percent of Hong Kong’s population lives in public housing, with the monthly rent ranging from HK$259 (US$33) to HK$3,525 per unit, or about 50 percent of the rent for private apartments.
Hau praised the Upper Ngau Tau Kok Estate for its facilities catering to the elderly and people with physical disabilities, as well as their environmentally friendly design, which allows sufficient airflow and daylight.
Hau said Taipei would learn from the project management’s experience to build quality public housing.
“The example of public housing in Hong Kong shows that public housing should not be equated with a low-quality living environment. Taipei will build high-quality public housing that offers residents a comfortable and convenient environment,” he said after the tour.
Low-income residents or minority groups, however, will not be the targets of Taipei’s public housing projects.
Hau said the city would offer affordable housing for rent to the city’s youth and middle-class residents who cannot afford to purchase property owing to skyrocketing real-estate prices.
While Hong Kong plans to use 12km2 of land to build public estates for 2 million residents, Hau said Taipei would use about 3km2 to create public housing units for 200,000 people.
Taipei’s first public rental housing project will be open to young residents in January next year, offering 110 units in the 11-story building near the Yuanshan MRT Station with a monthly rent that will be about 80 percent of the average rent in the area.
Taipei City Department of Finance Commissioner Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) said the city government had also selected two plots of land to build rental housing units in the Muzha (木柵) and Zhongzheng (中正) area near Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School.
The housing project near the school, with public bidding expected to take place this year, is a joint project with the Ministry of Education to offer about 100 apartment units for both local and international students, Chiu said.
The housing units in Muzha will be completed in two years, Chiu said.
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