82% of Wang Fuk Court flat owners accept buy-back offer before priority deadline
Housing Bureau says it received 1,635 letters of acceptance a day before deadline to secure priority flat selection under special sales plan
More than 80 per cent of owners at Wang Fuk Court have accepted the Hong Kong government’s offer to buy back their flats at the fire-ravaged estate, a day before the deadline to secure priority flat selection under a special sales plan.
The Housing Bureau said on Monday that it had received 1,635 signed letters of acceptance, accounting for about 82.4 per cent of the total flats in the estate’s eight blocks.
Of these, 1,429 came from Blocks A to G, accounting for roughly 82.3 per cent of flats in those seven buildings, while 206 were from Wang Chi House (Block H), representing about 83 per cent.
The bureau described the response as “good progress”.
The fire, which broke out on November 26 last year and raged for 43 hours, swept through seven of the estate’s eight blocks, killing 168 people, including a firefighter, and displacing around 5,000 residents.
The buy-back plan followed the government’s announcement in February that it would spend about HK$6.8 billion (US$867 million) to acquire affected flats, funded by HK$4 billion in public money and HK$2.8 billion from a donation-backed support fund.