Pressure groups warned yesterday that the government and the Urban Renewal Authority faced the possibility of more confrontations because the framework for compensating residents and shop owners was failing to provide fair solutions.
The activists, veterans of battles against redevelopment projects over the past decade, also expressed disappointment that an independent steering committee set up to review the strategy that governed the Urban Renewal Authority's work was dissolved five months early.
Activists made the remarks after they handed in what they called the people's urban renewal strategy to the Development Bureau.
Public consultation on a review of urban renewal strategy ended yesterday. A two-and-half-year exercise to address the public's frequent discontent with authority redevelopment projects ended at the same time.
Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said the new urban renewal strategy would be unveiled early next year.
Lam launched the exercise in July 2008, when she also announced the formation of an independent steering committee to oversee the review and propose changes to urban renewal policy.
'It is very disappointing,' said Sin Wai-fong, an activist helping dislocated residents and businesses in previous urban renewal projects. 'The Development Bureau informed us the steering committee was dissolved in July after we demanded a meeting with the steering committee to express our views.'
