No price tag yet for Zone A public housing units

The Housing Bureau (IH) has built a total of 3,011 housing units in Zone A – nearly 1,000 fewer than what Chief Executive Chui Sai On had promised in his 2019 policy address.
Originally, 4,000 home-ownership scheme (HOS) units were planned to be built on the four plots of Zone A, however, one of the bidders had previously filed an appeal against the outcome of the public tender for the HOS construction project.
The subsidized HOS units comprise of 760 one-bedroom units, 998 two-bedroom units and 1,253 three-bedroom units.
This round of applications – the first since 2013 – requires that applicants’ minimum income for a one-person household be over 11,640 patacas per month, and 17,680 patacas for a two-person household. A household with seven members or more should have a monthly income of at least 34,390 patacas.
The maximum limit of net assets for one-person household HOS applicants is 1.27 million patacas, while the limit for two-person household HOS applicants is 2.54 million patacas.
Arnaldo Ernesto dos Santos, director of IH, said during a press conference that the government had already reserved more than 30,000 public housing units and he hoped that they would collect more information on applicant data for further revision.
“In the future, there will be many public housing units, don’t worry,” said dos Santos during a press conference.
Those who wish to apply this year but who participated in the 2013 cycle must submit a form to renounce their previous application.
The director said that over 5,000 applicants are still queuing up for different types of affordable housing units.
Currently, the HOS projects that will be built on plot B4, B9 and B10 of the reclaimed area – Zone A – still have no price tag.
The official said that the projects are still being designed and that there is no timetable yet on when the plans will be completed, nor when they would be handed over to successful applicants. LV