Reappointment of Managing Director and appointment of Executive Director of Urban Renewal Authority
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The Government announced today (June 10) that the Chief Executive has reappointed Mr Wai Chi-sing as Managing Director of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) for another term of three years with effect from June 15, 2022. The Chief Executive has also, on the recommendation of a selection panel, appointed Ms Carolin Fong Suet-yuen as Executive Director of the URA for a term of three years with effect from October 3, 2022.
The Secretary for Development, Mr Michael Wong, welcomed Mr Wai’s reappointment, and expressed his sincere gratitude to Mr Wai for his dedicated service in leading the URA in taking forward various urban renewal efforts over the past six years.
“With exceptional leadership and a great wealth of professional expertise and experience, Mr Wai has been leading the URA in implementing large scale urban redevelopment plans under the planning-led approach. The URA has also undertaken and completed various strategic studies to explore new directions and models to facilitate sustainable urban renewal. We look forward to continuing our close working relationship with him to tackle the challenges of urban renewal,” he said.
Mr Wai, an engineer by profession, was appointed the Managing Director of the URA by the Chief Executive in 2016 and was reappointed in 2019. The Managing Director is the administrative head of the URA and Deputy Chairman of the URA Board. Before joining the URA, Mr Wai had served in the civil service for 35 years and held the position of the Permanent Secretary for Development (Works) before his retirement in April 2015.
Moreover, under the existing establishment of the URA, there are two Executive Directors underpinning the Managing Director in taking forward the work of urban renewal. Selected through an open recruitment exercise for the Executive Director post, Ms Fong will assist the Managing Director in managing the URA’s work on building rehabilitation, acquisition and clearance, works and contracts, and legal matters.
Ms Fong is an architect by profession. She has been the Director of Estates of the Hong Kong Baptist University since 2019. Prior to that, she was the Director and Head of Sustainable Development of DLN Architects Limited, and was Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture of the University of Hong Kong from 2007 to 2009.
“Ms Fong has extensive experience in project management and developing green buildings. We look forward to working with her to inject new ideas and impetus into the URA to expedite the work of urban renewal,” Mr Wong said.
A consultancy firm was appointed to conduct the above-mentioned open recruitment exercise, and the candidates were considered by a selection panel set up by the Development Bureau. The selection panel, chaired by the Permanent Secretary for Development (Planning and Lands), comprised the Chairman of the URA, Mr Chow Chung-kong; the Managing Director of the URA, Mr Wai Chi-sing; the Director of Buildings (Official Non-Executive Director of the URA Board); and the Non-Executive Director of the URA Board, Mr William Chan Fu-keung.