Urban rejuvenation schemes should be extended but fine-tuning needed: Experts

Keep up momentum of city centre renewal with adjustments to incentive programmes

- Grace Leong

Two urban rejuvenation schemes of the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) reached the end of their five-year term in late November, and industry experts said the initiatives, which have led to major city renewal projects, should be extended after some fine-tuning.

The Central Business District Incentive (CBDI) and the Strategic Development Incentive (SDI) schemes hit their five-year milestone on Nov 26 and are being reviewed by the URA. The two schemes give developers and building owners incentives to undertake rejuvenation projects.

Analysts added that the review is timely as office space demand has evolved in the face of developments such as hybrid work.

Both schemes were launched in 2019. The CBDI aims to encourage the conversion of older and predominantly office developments in the CBD into mixed-use buildings.

To help grow the live-in population there, the scheme offers developers an increase in the maximum allowable gross floor area (GFA) in exchange for a change in land use from offices to homes or hotels.

The SDI scheme requires owners of two or more adjacent sites to jointly come up with a redevelopment proposal, although URA has said exemptions from eligibility criteria can be considered.

These schemes are critical as they help spur redevelopment in built-up areas such as the CBD and Orchard Road where the private sector and developers control most of the land on a freehold or 99-year leasehold basis. Without these incentives, the authorities would depend heavily on the market to initiate and determine redevelopment outcomes.

To date, URA has given in-principle approval for 13 out of the 17 applications received for the CBDI scheme. Of these, three projects are under development.

For the SDI scheme, URA has granted the in-principle nod to seven out of the nine applications received, two of which are under development.