Background

Kwun Tong is situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowloon Peak in the east to the north coast of the Airport (Kai Tak) runway in the west.

Population: 565,000

Area: 1,130 hectares

Characteristics

Kwun Tong is one of the earliest developed urban areas in Hong Kong. Its population has been growing rapidly, and the demand for housing, medical and educational facilities and services has been increasing. In view of this, a number of community development projects, such as the redevelopment of old housing estates and the construction of major parks, have been implemented in recent years. These projects have incorporated a wide range of supporting facilities, like primary and secondary schools, clinics, community centres and open spaces. All these facilities have brought about a new face to the Kwun Tong District, making it a more comfortable place for the people to live.

Around 54% of the population of the Kwun Tong District live in public housing estates, 13% in the Home Ownership Scheme estates, 4% in the Private Sector Participation Scheme estates, and the rest in private housing. With the redevelopment schemes of housing estates being completed successively in recent years, many older estates have been replaced by new ones, and this scenario gives a fresh look to the amenities of the District.
 

The health services are provided by the United Christian Hospital which is equipped with casualty facilities. In the event of accidents and disasters, the injured have to be sent there for emergency medical treatment. In addition, various health services are provided by the Department of Health  in the District, including an elderly health centre, a woman health centre, a chest clinic, a child assessment centre, a dermatological clinic, a dental out-patient clinic, a school dental clinic, a social hygiene clinic, 2 maternal and child health care centres, 2 methadone clinics and 3 student health service centres/special assessment centres.

The Kwun Tong District is densely populated. To tie in with the new demands arising from the whole-day schooling policy and the redevelopment schemes of old housing estates, sufficient land has been earmarked for the construction of more schools under the blueprint for town planning and designation of land use in new housing estates.
 

There are 8 community centres under the District Office, and they are distributed over the 8 sub-districts of the Kwun Tong District. The oldest one is the Kwun Tong Community Centre, which is already 34 years old, while the newest one is the Sai Tso Wan Neighbourhood Community Centre. The construction of the Centre, which was completed in 1993, is the ancillary requirement that Laguna City developer has to fulfil for property development therein.
 

Residents of the district mainly rely on land transport network to gain access to other areas. The Mass Transit Railway and bus are major transport modes linking Kwun Tong and other districts. Public light bus and green minibusp provide complementary feeder transport services in the district.
 

The main industrial areas under the management of Kwun Tong District Council are located in Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong.  In recent years, industrial restructuring and relocation of production lines and factories to the Mainland China have resulted in plenty of factory units being left vacant.  A lot of the vacant factory units have gradually been converted into office premises.  In January 2001 and October 2001, the Town Planning Board (TPB) amended the related Outline Zoning Plan to rezone the industrial land in the district to “Other Specified Uses” annotated “Business” zone.  This is to allow maximum flexibility in the use of existing industrial and industrial-office (I-O) buildings as well as in the development of new buildings for both commercial and clean industrial uses.

Regarding the planning applications for change of use to Commercial in Kowloon Bay Business Area and Kwun Tong Business Area, 121 cases in Kowloon Bay Business Area and 304 cases in Kwun Tong Business Area were approved by the TPB from 1990 to late June 2006.