The Kwai Tsing District Board became Kwai Tsing Provisional District Board after the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was established in 1997 with the appointment system being reintroduced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

The appointed seats were abolished in 2011 after the modified constitutional reform proposal was passed by the Legislative Council in 2010.

Prominent pro-democracy politicians Lee Wing-tat, Sin Chung-kai and Leung Yiu-chung were among the seven pro-democrat activists to become the first members of the council.

Lee and Sin had served as council chairmen from 1988 to 1991 and from 1991 to 1994 respectively, representing the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (ADPL).

The Democratic Party with the Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre (NWSC), which had a strong presence in Shek Yam and Kwai Chung, had comfortable control of the council throughout the 1980s and the early SAR period until their influence began to eclipse in the late 2000s with the pro-Beijing camp actively absorbed the former pro-democrat independents and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) developed their bases in the district.