Shek Kip Mei estate residents protest against redevelopment plans

Most tenants facing displacement from their private estate in Shek Kip Mei reject a developer's proposal of a 30 per cent discount to buy the rebuilt flats, insisting a public estate be built at the site and residents rehoused there, a concern group claims.

The developer, the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation, had been conducting home visits since February 8, sounding out tenants on their proposal, said Lau Cheung-tai, a member of the group.

Should they accept, residents would be offered a rent waiver for five years plus an option to buy future flats at a 30 per cent discount, he said.

About 1,300 households on the Tai Hang Sai Estate - the city's only privately run estate offering low-income tenants homes at below-market rents - will be uprooted when work begins on turning the site into subsidised homes for young people to buy.

Lau, 65, said residents were also being offered another option to buy flats jointly developed by Henderson with mainland developer Country Garden Holdings in Guangdong province. Originally reserved for Hongkongers aged 60 or above at a 40 per cent discount, the prices range from HK$100,000 to HK$200,000.

"All they told us was to buy flats," said Lau, who moved into the estate when he was 16.