 放大圖片
■上環永利街有很大機會被列為保育地帶，毋需清拆重建。 資料圖片
永利街因電影《歲月神偷》聲名大噪，被列為保育地帶而毋需清拆重建。市建局主席張震遠早前表示，當局將向受影響的租戶和業主提供資助和安排，改善居住環境。當局作出此次安排前曾與有關居民協商，確保是一份條件合理、照顧全面的協助方案，既回應社會日趨提升的保育訴求，又兼顧現有租客及業主利益，對其他保育和重建項目中牽涉的居民安置事宜具示範作用。
《歲月神偷》雖令永利街一舉成名，成為承載本港集體回憶的「聖地」，市建局亦因應保育訴求將之剔出重建範圍，並建議城規會將其列為保育地帶，但永利街的樓宇日久失修，居住環境惡劣。因此，市建局決定「原汁原味」保育永利街，向業主和租戶提出一系列特惠安排，幫助住戶改善居住環境。租戶既可選擇原址居住，亦可另覓住所，有需要者更可以公屋租金水平租住過渡單位；每戶租客均可獲得改善居住環境的現金津貼，搬出者還有搬遷津貼，日後搬往公屋還可再獲搬遷津貼及退回半年租金；業主則可按業權情況申請最高20萬元的復修資助。
本港近年的保育或重建項目越來越多，大多牽涉居民搬遷問題，但因部分居民或租客對補償存在不合理的期望，漫天開價，阻礙公共工程的進程，甚至演變成社會矛盾焦點，菜園村、紫田村的搬遷問題就是典型例子。此次永利街的搬遷問題，市建局一直和受影響居民協調磋商，達成較合理和可接受的搬遷條件，對居民有吸引力，減少對搬遷和保育的阻力。
Arrangements made for the residents of Wing Lee Street show a model
Thanks to the movie Echoes of the Rainbow, Wing Lee Street has become a talk of the town. The area will possibly be saved from demolition and redevelopment, and be categorised as a conservation site. Mr Cheung Chun-yuen, chairman of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), disclosed earlier that the authorities will offer subsidies and make arrangements for the affected tenants and owners to improve their living conditions. The authorities had consulted the residents concerned beforehand and come up with a reasonable and encompassing assistance plan. The move is a response to the mounting call for conservation in society and takes care also of the interests of the sitting tenants and owners. The scheme can set an example for cases involving re-housing residents in other conservation or redevelopment projects.
The movie Echoes of the Rainbow made Wing Lee Street famous overnight and the street is now a holy land of collective memory in Hong Kong. This rendered the URA not only to delist it from redevelopment, but also to propose it a conservation site to the Town Planning Board. Despite this, the buildings in the area are in fact old without restoration and the living environments are poor. The URA has decided to preserve the entire Wing Lee Street by keeping all its characteristics unchanged, and at the same time, to offer a batch of ex-gratia arrangements to the owners and tenants to help them improve their living conditions. The tenants can choose to either stay in their original residence or find new homes elsewhere. Those in need can rent the flats in transition and pay public housing level rentals. Each tenant is entitled to a cash subsidy to improve their conditions. Those who choose to move out will receive a removal allowance and when they later move on to a public housing unit, they will again get a further removal allowance and a reimbursement of rents for half a year. Owners may apply for a renovation subsidy up to a maximum of HK$200,000 according to their title to the building.
Recently, the number of conservation or redevelopment projects in Hong Kong has been increasing and most of these projects involve displacement of residents. Unfortunately, the progress of some of these projects had been hindered by some of the residents and tenants who had irrational expectations for compensation and made exorbitant demands. In some cases, the situations even turned into focal points of social conflicts. The clearing of the Choi Yuen Village and Tsz Tin Tsuen serve as typical examples. This time, in dealing with the case of Wing Lee Street, the URA has been liaising with the affected residents and reached through consultation a basket of relatively reasonable and acceptable terms of re-housing. As these terms are more attractive to the residents, they help to relieve residents’ resistance to displacement and conservation. ■translation by 開明 chi.ming818@gmail.com
|
放大圖片
