LCQ6: Sai Yee Street/Flower Market Road Development Scheme

Unlocking the potential: the future of sai yee street and flower market road

​Following is a question by the Hon Shiu Ka-fai and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (April 24):

Question:

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced last month the commencement of the Sai Yee Street/Flower Market Road Development Scheme (the Scheme) which involved the redevelopment of the Mong Kok Flower Market (the Flower Market). Some members of the community are of the view that while the Flower Market is a century-old district in Hong Kong with characteristics, past experience shows that some streets or districts with characteristics tend to lose their original characteristics after relocation or redevelopment by the authorities, and therefore they are worried that the same would happen to the Flower Market. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows the numbers of affected operators of ground floor and upper floor shops (including floral arrangement schools) within the scope of the Scheme and the area of their shops, with a tabulated breakdown by business category;

(2) whether it knows, in taking forward the Scheme, the specific measures put in place by the URA to assist the operators of ground floor and upper floor shops mentioned in (1) respectively, including ways to ensure that the desire of affected flower shop operators to relocate back to the Flower Market after redevelopment will not be undermined by factors such as high rentals in future;

(3) whether it knows the age distribution of buildings to be redeveloped under the Scheme, and how such age distribution compares with that of buildings in other old districts; of the reasons for the URA choosing to first proceed with a redevelopment project on the Flower Market;

(4) whether it knows if the URA has measures in place to minimise the inconvenience or impact caused to the operators of nearby ground floor and upper floor shops outside the scope of the Scheme when the construction works of the Scheme are in progress; if the URA has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and

(5) whether specific long term measures or plans are in place to help flower shops and relevant operators in the Flower Market sustain their operation and ensure that local characteristics and vibes of the Flower Market will be preserved; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

President,

Following the completion of the District Study for Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok (YMDS) in 2021, the Sai Yee Street/Flower Market Road Development Scheme (the Scheme) is the first urban renewal project launched by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) in the district according to the recommendations of the YMDS. The Scheme comprises six sites. Upon redevelopment, it will increase the supply of private residential and commercial floor space, as well as provide brand-new recreational, leisure and public facilities. The revitalisation of the Flower Market and the preservation of the local character of the district are also objectives of the Scheme. The URA hopes not only to preserve the existing characteristics of the Flower Market, but also enhance its characteristics and ambience, so as to inject diversified development and new vitality into the Flower Market, and provide more space for the flower shops to operate and create a better business environment. This will provide a more comfortable shopping environment for the people visiting the flower shops (please see part (5) of the reply for more details). According to the URA's survey, there are currently some 120 ground-floor flower shops in the Flower Market, more than 20 of them will be affected by the redevelopment project. The URA will provide transitional and moving-back arrangement for affected flower shops.

Having consulted the URA, my reply to the various parts of the question is as follows:

(1) Based on the information obtained from the freezing survey conducted by the URA on the announcement date of the Scheme, the information of the affected ground-floor shop operators and upper-floor business operators within the Scheme boundary, categorised by their business nature (Note 1), is tabulated as follows:

Operators

(total)

Business nature

Number

Ground-floor shop operators

(35)

Flower shops orflorist-related business

26

Catering

7

Hair-cutting

1

Church (Note 2)

1

Upper-floor business operators

(12)

Flower shops orflorist-related business

2

Guesthouse

2

Charitable organisation

2

Photo and video production house

2

Creative art education and training

2

Beauty and massage

1

Religious education centre

1

As always, the URA's case officers will continue to visit the affected households and business operators to explain the acquisition policies, as well as the implementation arrangements, timetable and the latest progress of the Scheme. If the Scheme is eventually approved by the Chief Executive in Council, the URA will, based on the occupying conditions of the affected properties as recorded in the freezing survey and in accordance with the prevailing policy, make acquisition offers to owners of domestic/non-domestic properties, make compensation offers to tenants of domestic/non-domestic properties and arrange rehousing for eligible tenants of domestic properties of the Scheme.

(2) A multi-purpose complex is proposed to be constructed under the Scheme. The ground floor of the complex will provide on-street retail units facing the proposed Waterway Park. According to the current planning, it is proposed that these retail units should have a florist or horticultural theme. The URA will also consider giving priority to the florist operators affected by the redevelopment to move back to these retail units after completion of the Scheme, while arrangements to facilitate their transitional operation will also be examined.

The management model and rental level of the retail portion of the multi-purpose complex will be determined based on the market environment and operational direction, and there is currently no finalised plan. The URA will maintain ongoing communication with the operators of the affected shops within the Scheme area to understand their needs so as to provide appropriate assistance.

(3) The Scheme involves a total of 23 private buildings aged between 64 and 76 years, which are older than the average building age of buildings involved in the redevelopment projects undertaken by the URA in the past two years (2022 to 2023) (the average building age is about 60 years (Note 3)).

As in the past, before deciding to proceed with the Scheme, the URA has already conducted a comprehensive examination and analysis a basket of factors, including land use, feasibility of planning, building age, financial capacity of the URA, and assessed the planning gains brought about by the Scheme under the "planning-led" and "district-based" strategy. In view of the fact that the area around Sai Yee Street and Flower Market Road has been developed for many years, the relevant planning support and facilities are no longer able to cope with the development needs of the area, including aged recreational facilities with segregated functionality and spaces, lack of leisure and resting spaces, as well as traffic congestion and competition between pedestrians and vehicles for road space in the vicinity of the Flower Market. The URA aims to leverage the Scheme to help resolve the district problems mentioned above as well as to improve hardware support and spatial planning, so as to facilitate the long-term sustainable development of the Flower Market and to encourage redevelopment of old districts nearby.

(4) The URA is aware that there may be impact on the environment of the Flower Market during the construction period. Under the current planning, the URA will carry out the construction works in phases, starting with the site without shops (i.e. the site at the Boundary Street). As for other five sites, the construction works are expected to be commenced at a later stage since acquisition and relocation matters will be involved. The URA will make use of this period of time to engage the operators of the shops concerned and formulate measures to mitigate the impact of the construction work.

During the construction period, the URA will also require the contractor(s) to conduct environmental monitoring, which mainly include dust, effluent and noise monitoring, so as to minimise the impact on the surrounding environment and the shops in the vicinity of the Scheme.

(5) The Scheme will promote the further development of the Flower Market on various fronts, including the provision of on-street retail units facing the proposed Waterway Park on the ground level of the proposed multi-purpose complex, so as to expand the area as well as to improve the supporting facilities and environment of the Flower Market. More opportunities will then be created for the flower shops and related operators to expand their businesses and enhance the vibrant marketplace atmosphere of the Flower Market.

At the same time, the URA will complement with the revitalisation project of the pre-war tenement clusters (i.e. the Prince Edward Road West/Yuen Ngai Street project) which has been completed years ago, and combine the four sites in the Prince Edward Road West under the Scheme to enhance the back lanes along Yuen Ngai Street and Yuen Po Street through landscaping and revitalisation works as well as place-making, with the aim to transform them into the Third Flower Market Pedestrian Walkway in addition to the Flower Market Road and the Prince Edward Road West. This proposal will help enhance the overall environment of the Flower Market, boosting street vibrancy and extend the distinctive ambience and characteristics of the Flower Market to the vicinity.

The URA also proposes to construct a Waterway Park with an area of not less than 8 800 square metres in the Scheme. By incorporating landscape design elements such as planting flowers, trees, and shrubs, as well as encouraging place-making, the Waterway Park will capitalise on its unique geographical location adjacent to the Flower Market and create a "flower viewing hotspot". This will highlight the district characteristics of the Flower Market and revitalise the image of the area.

In addition, the Scheme also proposes to construct an underground public carpark at the site located at the Boundary Street to provide additionally about 220 public parking spaces for private cars and 10 public loading/unloading bays for some of the flower operators in order to facilitate their cargo handling, and for the convenience of those who drive to Flower Market to buy flowers. This proposal will help alleviate the problems of illegal parking, road congestion and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts caused by insufficient metered parking spaces in the Flower Market area. By improving the overall traffic and pedestrian environment in the vicinity, it will enhance the business environment and improve the shopping experience of customers in the Flower Market, which will in turn help attract more customers to the flower shops and related businesses, and promote the area as a diversified shopping district for leisure and recreation.

Note 1: Since the acquisition and clearance works have not been commenced, the URA is not able to provide information regarding the business operating area of the units at this stage.

Note 2: Apart from the ground-floor premises, the church also occupies several units on the upper floors.

Note 3: Exclude five pre-war buildings.

Source: AI-generated images

Empowering innovation: a recap of sj's inspiring speech at the 26th icca congress

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, at the 26th ICCA Congress Opening Ceremony today (May 5):

Dr Alexandrov (President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), Dr Stanimir Alexandrov), Justin (Co-Chair of the ICCA 2024 Hong Kong Host Committee Mr Justin D'Agostino), Neil (Co-Chair of the ICCA 2024 Hong Kong Host Committee Mr Neil Kaplan), Rimsky (Co-Chairperson of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC), David (Co-Chairperson of HKIAC Mr David Rivkin), Joanne (Secretary-General of HKIAC, Ms Joanne Lau), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Let me begin by expressing my gratitude to ICCA for agreeing to host the Congress in Hong Kong, which is a very strong vote of confidence in Hong Kong as an international arbitration centre. I must also congratulate the HKIAC on its successful organisation of the Congress. The Department of Justice is indeed very pleased to be one of the supporting organisations by providing financial and other supports.

I can now understand why the ICCA Congress is hailed as the Olympics of the international arbitration community. The Olympics is renowned for the great diversity and high standard of the participants. This ICCA Congress has attracted over 1 300 leading experts in international arbitrations from more than 70 jurisdictions. This is a new record, which I believe will be extremely difficult to break.

With so many friends from other parts of the world and the Mainland, as the Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong, I feel duty bound to seize the opportunity to impress on you that Hong Kong is and will remain to be a leading international arbitration centre. I am going to recast the four letters "ICCA" as an acronym to illustrate the unique strengths and qualities possessed by Hong Kong that make it stand out as one of the best venues for international commercial arbitration.

"I" - Institutional support

"I" stands for "institutional support". Hong Kong is home to many world-class and internationally renowned arbitral institutions. As our home-grown dispute resolution institution, HKIAC has always been ranked as one of the most-preferred arbitral institutions in the world. It is very encouraging to see that HKIAC received a total of 281 arbitration filings in 2023. I think Joanne mentioned some other relevant figures. They continued to be predominantly international arbitration featuring parties from 45 jurisdictions. The total amount in dispute in all arbitration cases was HK$92.8 billion, which is equivalent to about US$12.5 billion, representing a record high for HKIAC.

Among sponsors of the ICCA Congress are other reputable arbitral institutions with offices based in Hong Kong, such as the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), and the South China International Arbitration Center (Hong Kong) (SCIA(HK)).

"C" - Comprehensive legal framework

The first "C" stands for our "comprehensive legal framework" in arbitration. The Arbitration Ordinance in Hong Kong forms the backbone of our arbitration framework. Coming into effect in 2011, the Ordinance is largely based on the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, which is familiar to practitioners from both civil law and common law jurisdictions, as well as the international business community.

Taking note of arbitration users' needs for flexible funding options, we have refined our arbitration law to specifically provide for third party funding of arbitration in February 2019. In addition, the Outcome Related Fee Structures for Arbitration (ORFSA) was fully implemented in Hong Kong in December 2022. As at March 2024, based on statistics provided by our arbitral institutions, 88 arbitration cases were disclosed to be conducted with third party funding and five cases were conducted with ORFSA.

As to enforcement, arbitral awards made in Hong Kong are enforceable in Hong Kong, and over 170 contracting parties to the New York Convention. But more importantly, Hong Kong enjoys a unique strength that is not shared by other jurisdictions. Under the principle of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong has entered into three mutual legal assistance arrangements with the Mainland on not only mutual enforcement of arbitral awards, but also mutual assistance in interim measures which allow parties to arbitral proceedings administered by the designated arbitral institutions to apply to the Mainland courts for interim measures for preservation of asset, evidence and conduct, before an arbitral award is made. As at March 2024, Hong Kong's arbitral institutions had processed 118 applications for interim measures made to the Mainland courts, and court orders in respect of over RMB16.3 billion worth of assets had been issued.

"C" - Court's pro-arbitration approach

The second "C" stands for "the Court's pro-arbitration approach". The Hong Kong judiciary has long been adopting a very pro-arbitration approach. And such an approach is confirmed by a number of recent court judgments.

Last year, a landmark judgment C v D was handed down by the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. The judgment recognised the distinction between admissibility and jurisdiction, and held that there is a presumption that the issue of non-compliance with a precondition to arbitration is a question of admissibility to be decided by the arbitral tribunal, thereby limiting the scope of court intervention in the arbitral process. In a more recent case of CNG v G, the Court of First Instance reaffirmed the fundamental principles that arbitration is a voluntary and consensual process of final dispute resolution; and it was stressed that the Court must not only respect the autonomy of the tribunal, but also leave the tribunal free to decide the dispute with the proper exercise of its case-management powers, when the tribunal is clearly in the best position to manage its own proceedings and procedure. Lastly, in two very recent judgments handed down around two weeks ago, Re Simplicity & Vogue Retailing (HK) Co Ltd, and Re Shandong Chenming Paper Holdings Ltd, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal noted and ruled that, save in wholly exceptional circumstances, the court should decline to entertain a petition for winding up or bankruptcy when there is an arbitration agreement concerning the debt in question.

"A" - Accessibility to the international legal community

Lastly, the letter "A". Letter "A" stands for the accessibility to the international legal community. I wish to emphasise that the international arbitrations in Hong Kong are accessible to the international legal community. There is no doubt that Hong Kong itself has a very strong tool of legal talents specialised in international arbitrations. This is demonstrated by the large number of sponsors and organisers of not just official events but side events, many of which are leading law firms and barristers' chambers in Hong Kong.

But the point that I really wish to make is that Hong Kong welcomes friends from the Mainland and other parts of the world to take part in international arbitrations conducted here. As an example, to enhance immigration convenience, last year, the Government has expanded the Pilot Scheme on Facilitation for Persons Participating in Arbitral Proceedings in Hong Kong for all visitors to participate in arbitral proceedings here as arbitrators, expert and factual witnesses, counsel in the arbitration, and parties to the arbitration, without the need to obtain any employment visa. From March 2023 to March 2024, 96 persons were allowed to participate in Hong Kong arbitral proceedings without the need to obtain any employment visa under the scheme.

I truly and firmly believe that Hong Kong's reputation as a leading international arbitration centre is well deserved. However, to enable Hong Kong to maintain and enhance such a status, we need your trust and support, in particular, those of you from overseas. Seeing is believing. I hope that, apart from taking part in the official and side events of this ICCA Congress, you will have the chance to experience the Hong Kong life including our delicious food, unique culture and beautiful scenery. I am sure you will be convinced that Hong Kong remains to be a very open, friendly and diversified international society with a solid foundation based on the rule of law.

On this note, I wish to say thank you again, and I wish you all a pleasant evening in celebrating the commencement of the ICCA Congress, and of course, a very fruitful, constructive and pleasant stay in Hong Kong. Thank you very much.

Speech by SJ at 26th ICCA Congress Opening Ceremony Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases