Toi San district’s over 60-year-old Public Servants Building has obtained consent agreements from 95.5 percent of its condominium owners to proceed with redevelopment, including five government-owned units, while four household owners have not signed the agreement.
After redevelopment of the building, the owners will be able to get a new unit of an equivalent size, the building’s management committee announced in a press conference yesterday.
The official Cantonese name of the Public Servant Building is Kong Mou Un Tai Ha (公務員大廈).
The press conference about the building’s urban renewal project was held at the building.
Lou Hok Fu, vice chairman of the owners management committee, told reporters yesterday that the owners would be able to “exchange their units for new ones” post-redevelopment. Each condominium owner is required to fork out about 38,500 patacas in legal fees, Lou said, adding that the total construction cost, estimated at over 90 million patacas, along with the other expenses for newly added units, will be borne by the contractor, which will recoup the construction costs by selling the newly added ground floor shops after redevelopment.
Lou noted that the redevelopment project will be undertaken by Kwan Shing Property Development Company Limited. After redevelopment, the ground floor will be expanded to accommodate 14 shops, while floors 1 to 6 will be residential, increasing the number of residential units from the original 90 to 107, as well as the 14 shops. The size of the owners’ original flat of around 39.12 m2 will essentially remain almost unchanged, Lau said. He pointed out that the building’s height is limited to 20.5 metres, according to the draft plan.
The reconstruction project is expected to take two years, followed by around six months for government inspections, according to Lou.
The redevelopment of the building is the first case under Macau’s new “Urban Renewal Legal System”, which took effect on June 1, 2023. According to the system, buildings aged 40 years or older can initiate redevelopment procedures with the consent of a minimum of 80 percent of the condominium owners. Therefore, the redevelopment of the Public Servants Building will proceed with the consent of 86 of the 90 owners, i.e., 95.5 percent of the total number of owners, while four owners who have not signed the agreement will have their cases resolved through arbitration, Lou added.
Built in 1965 without lifts, the building suffers from issues such as water leakage, peeling wall and outdated electrical wiring due to its age exceeding 60 years, raising widespread safety concerns among residents, Lou said, adding that the condominium owners’ general meeting passed the redevelopment resolution on January 7, 2019; on May 4, 2019, the general meeting authorised the constructor to apply to the Lands and Urban Construction Bureau (DSSCU) and the Financial Services Bureau (DSF) for redevelopment permits and “Tax Incentives for Property Redevelopment” for the redevelopment process, not for a transfer of condominium ownership rights.
However, Lou added that due to the complexity of ownership and the time required for administrative procedures, the submission and approval of the Conditions of Urban Planning were not completed until June 24, 2021; therefore, the whole process, ongoing since 2018, has now lasted seven years.
Lei Pui Seng, the chairperson of the building’s owners management committee, told reporters that the owners have appealed to the relevant government’s bureaux to complete the arbitration process as soon as possible, expedite the review procedures, and promptly announce the rental terms for temporary housing to ensure the owners have a place to live during the reconstruction period, adding that currently there are about 10-20 households living in the building. Lei pointed out that most of the owners are quite old.
Lei Pui Seng, the chairperson of Toi Sán’s Public Servant Building’s management committee and Lou Hok Fu (left), vice chairman of the building’s management committee told reporters on the sidelines of press conference about the Toi Sán’s Public Servant Building’s urban renewal project at the building yesterday. – Photos: Ida Cheong
Public Servant Building (公務員大廈) located in Toi Sán district.
These photos taken yesterday show the condominium building’s dilapidated state of repair.
