Located on Tai Ho Road in Tsuen Wan, the courts building will mainly be used for hearing cases of the District Court which do not involve or attract many court users. The arrangement will free up courtrooms in the District Court for cases related to social unrest, the Judiciary said.

The building comprises of four small courtrooms, each capable of handling cases involving up to five defendants, 15 legal representatives and around 20 members of the public or media.

Other supporting facilities include consultation rooms, witness waiting rooms, court extension areas for broadcasting of court proceedings and robing facilities for legal representatives.

As of late July, over 1,900 cases were brought before courts and around 1,400 have already been disposed of. It is expected that the vast majority of cases at the Magistrates' Courts would have been disposed of by the end of this year, the Judiciary said.

The upcoming challenge lies mainly with cases to be handled by the District Court. By the end of July, over 300 criminal cases were received, with about 250 cases not yet disposed of. Many of them involve 10 or more defendants, entailing long trials, some of which lasting over 20 to 30 days, the Judiciary added.