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1. Twelve projects successful in securing CIIF support

2. $20b spin-off for housing body

3. Air pollution levels soar to 12-month high

4. 'We are eating dust every day'

5. Research shows link between dirty air and visits to the doctor

6. Bureaucratic argument for fare deal a basket case

7. International law firm pulls out of slow HK

8. Hong Kong should embrace its heritage

9. Tung's speech did not boost confidence

10. Construction of the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line commences

1. Twelve projects successful in securing CIIF support
Hong Kong Government, 14 January 2003

The Community Investment and Inclusion Fund (CIIF) Committee today (January 14) announces that funding of $8.9 million has been allocated for 12 projects.

These 12 projects are amongst the first to be selected from the first batch of proposals submitted to the Fund in October last year.

A spokesperson for the CIIF Secretariat said each of the successful projects aimed to achieve something unique and all had been chosen to work with specific communities, marginalised groups or to address pressing social needs, and some involved different models of community building.

"The focus of these selected projects will be on empowering and building up the capacities of marginalised service recipients into contributors to society, forming self-help co-operatives, strengthening support networks or becoming helpers to others in need," the spokesperson said.

"Project beneficiaries include those who are homeless, people displaced and living in interim housing estates, youth with limited life skills or work options, single parents, new arrivals, the unskilled and unemployed, people with disabilities and elders who have retired early or in need of community-care."

Response to the new Fund had been enthusiastic, with 227 proposals received in the first batch.

"The CIIF Committee is highly appreciative of the efforts and support from all the Non-governmental Organisations and community groups that have submitted proposals to date.

"A number of these proposals show considerable potential to achieve the objectives of the CIIF.

"Understanding and operationalising the concept of social capital development is a gradual, formative and learning process. The CIIF Committee therefore welcomes the re-submission of some of these proposals if the applicants are interested in making appropriate revisions," the spokesperson added.

The CIIF Committee will host a de-briefing session on January 22, 2003 for all first batch applicants. The de-briefing session involves presentations by the selected projects, and will be of interest particularly to groups that wish to revise and re-submit their proposals.

Meanwhile, the Fund is open for second batch applications from February 1, 2003 with a closing date of April 30, 2003. Assistance to applicants will be provided through:

*The CIIF Guides, application forms and general advice are available from the Health Welfare and Food Bureau, District Offices of the Social Welfare Department and the Home Affairs Department;

*A series of briefings for prospective applicants are being organised by the CIIF Secretariat, during February and March 2003, to advise on the Fund objectives, application criteria and process; and

*Advice on preparing proposals and/or mentoring assistance through CIIF partners.
Information on the CIIF can be found at http://www.hwfb.gov.hk/ciif/index.htm

2. $20b spin-off for housing body
Staff reporter, The Standard 15 January 2003

The Housing Authority is looking at three options to spin off its HK$20 billion worth of shopping centres, markets and parking spaces as early as the second half of the year, according to reports.

The timing will depend on local investment sentiment and government approval, a Chinese-language newspaper reported, citing sources.

Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen earlier confirmed plans to spin off, sell or outsource the authority's commercial units, shopping centres and parking spaces. A consultancy firm had been appointed to conduct feasibility studies and financial arrangements for the proposals, he said.

The government has long been planning to dispose of its assets. It suggested listing the entities last year, but decided to hold off on the initiative in light of the sluggish stock market and the bleak local economy.

Pressed to reduce the deficit and pinning hopes on a resurgent economy in the latter half, the authority has revived the plan and forwarded a proposal for the listing and/or securitisation of its shopping centres, car parks and markets.

The proposal contained three options, the report said. The first is to transfer all the commercial units, shopping centres, car parks and markets to a separate entity and then have that new entity listed on the stock exchange, similar to the creation of the Tracker Fund. But due to the growth and earnings variation of the four assets, it would be difficult to come up with a market valuation and also hard to promote the stock.

The second option may get around this problem. The authority would list only the shopping centres and retail space, assets that generate stable rental income. Car parks and markets, with unstable earnings return and limited growth opportunities, would be securitised through debt.

The third option is for the authority to list the properties itself. This option would save some problems, but could create future management difficulties.

HSBC property analyst Derek Cheung said securitisation would be a better option than seeking a listing, due to bleak investment sentiment.

``If it really opted for a public listing, the price must be really low. But now might not be an ideal time for an IPO listing.''

While securitising assets could generate a stable income stream for investors, Cheung expected the project to lure overseas investors instead of locals.

``Hong Kong investors don't care about the yield. They look at stock value,'' he added.

Before settling on the best option, the government must first decide on the possible merger of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation and MTR Corp, as well as the launch of the second batch of MTR Corp shares.

The authority should also boost the occupancy rate of its markets, which remain at 30 per cent. If the process goes smoothly, it would appoint investment banks and underwriters in the second quarter to list the properties in the latter half of this year.

It has about 91,000 parking spaces and more than 130 shopping centres with a total gross floor area of 10 million square feet, which represents 25 per cent of total retail space.

3. Air pollution levels soar to 12-month high
HEIKE PHILLIPS, SCMP 15 January 2003

Air pollution soared to its highest level in more than a year yesterday, with diesel vehicles singled out as as the worst contributors.

The highest reading of 140 on the air pollution index was recorded in Causeway Bay at 8am. By 2pm, pollution in the area had dropped marginally to 139.

In Mongkok, the reading peaked at 120 at 2pm, while roadside pollution in Central dropped from a high of 114 at 3am to about 100 by early afternoon.

When the air pollution index hits 100, a health warning is issued to those with respiratory or heart disease.

Nitrogen dioxide, a component of vehicle exhausts, was identified as the major contributor to yesterday's pollution, but Sarah Liao Sau-tung, the Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works, said the poor air quality was only "episodic" and brought about by a lack of wind.

In an effort to clear the air, the government recently introduced an ultra-low sulphur diesel and partly implemented a tighter vehicle emissions standard, known as Euro III.

About 80 per cent (or 24,000) of pre-Euro III light diesel vehicles have since been fitted with a device to reduce particle emissions, and more than 90 per cent of Hong Kong's taxis now run on liquefied petroleum gas.

Dr Liao said yesterday her bureau had also asked bus companies to deploy more low-emission buses in busy streets in Causeway Bay, Central and Mongkok, where long bus queues are common.

"We will be working on capping the emission levels of bus fleets entering the busy areas. If they do not meet the requirement, they might not be allowed to enter the areas," she said.

But Hung Wing-tat, associate professor at the Polytechnic University's department of civil and structural engineering, said the fact that the current pollution was coming from diesel vehicles was a clear indication the government needed to maintain pressure to improve air quality.

"The problem will continue unless we go [wholly] to Euro III, or even higher standards [of emission controls]. Retro-fitting vehicles will not solve the problem because it has little effect on nitrogen oxide," he warned.

Clear the Air chairman Lincoln Chan said: "The government has done a lot of things, but not enough. When you compare 2001 and 2002 figures, air quality should be improving."

Yesterday's reading at Causeway Bay was the highest roadside reading since January 7 last year, when it rose to 140 after a high of 153 at the same station on January 1 last year.

The highest readings at general stations yesterday were 105 at Kwai Chung and 104 at Kwun Tong. The record high for the air pollution index is 185, reached at the airport town of Tung Chung on September 9 last year.

Anthony Hedley, chair of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said the high pollution was "totally unacceptable".

"Pollutants, even at very much lower levels, cause damage to people's health and result in early death," he said.

Friends of the Earth campaign director Daphne Mah Ngar-yin called on the government to do more. "The government has underestimated the wide-scale application of renewable energy in Hong Kong," she said.

4. 'We are eating dust every day'
BENJAMIN WONG, SCMP 15 January 2003

A newspaper vendor in Causeway Bay yesterday said she felt like "a vacuum cleaner sucking in dust" when she worked on high pollution days in the smog black spot.

The stall holder, Tse Lin-ho, 42, said she feared for her health working on the roadside of bustling Yee Wo Street.

"We are eating dust every day," she said. "It doesn't just affect my business, but also my health."

She said she wished the local authorities would wash the road down every morning so there would be less dust flying around.

Although vehicle emissions are one of the main sources of air pollution in Hong Kong, people have no choice but to live with the problem as most accept it is impossible to ban vehicles from their neighbourhoods.

Lai Chi-suen, 53, sells shoes at a roadside shop on Hennessy Road. He believes there is not much the government can do in tackling air pollution there.

"This is a major road and they can't possibly ban cars from using it." he said "I've been here for over 30 years and have got used to the air. It doesn't hamper my sales."

He said he worried more about rain and typhoons than air pollution because they would have a bigger impact on his business.

Yau Hon-ping, 45, the owner of an opticians opposite a minibus stand at Jardine's Bazaar, said the air quality had always been bad and that it had affected his business.

"There are fewer people walking around and therefore less business." Mr Yau said. "Although it would do some good, it's impossible to ban cars here. Asking the [minibus] drivers to turn off their engines wouldn't be practical either. They have to keep the air-conditioning running for the benefit of passengers."

Tourist Norman Lingaya said pollution was one of the first things he noticed after arriving in Hong Kong.

"On my way from the airport [on Monday] into Central I could hardly see anything out the window. It was obviously very heavily polluted."

5. Research shows link between dirty air and visits to the doctor
MARY ANN BENITEZ and HEIKE PHILLIPS, SCMP 15 January 2003

Researchers have for the first time established a direct link between Hong Kong's poor air quality and visits to doctors by otherwise healthy patients.

Past studies have established a direct link between high air pollution and hospital admissions and deaths among the chronically ill and those with weak immunity, said Wong Tze-wai of the Chinese University's department of community and family medicine.

But the new study by the universities' academics, published in the UK-based Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that particulate air pollution also had an adverse effect on the relatively healthy. Particulate pollution refers to the presence of minute particles in the air, as opposed to pollution by noxious gases. "The impact of air pollution on public health extends far beyond the increase in hospital admissions and mortalities," the academics said.

Daily consultations for minor respiratory illnesses were tracked by seven GP clinics in Hong Kong throughout 2000.

Professor Wong said the one-year study recorded 51,822 consultations for new cases of illness in the seven clinics. Of these, 36,112 were respiratory illnesses, including 31,303 upper respiratory tract infections and 2,094 cases of flu. "All in all, it will add up to a much bigger number, maybe a million consultations quite easily if we project this to the total number of GPs practising in Hong Kong," he said.

A statistically significant link was found between an increase in consultations and a rise in particulate pollution.

The study had since been extended to three years, with data collection recently completed.

Professor Anthony Hedley, chair of community medicine at the University of Hong Kong, said the latest high levels of pollution would undoubtedly have a negative effect on people's health. "There will be people admitted to hospital because of this and people will even die of this. But apart from these incidents of very high levels [of pollution], it's the average levels that are doing them harm," he said.

He said yesterday's pollution levels suggested Hong Kong had a long way to go in addressing the issue.

The study was funded by the government's Environmental Protection Department.

6. Bureaucratic argument for fare deal a basket case
JAKE VAN DER KAMP, SCMP 15 January 2003

Quote of the week award this week goes to Transport Secretary Sarah Liao Sau-tung, who, with a background in chemistry and hospital waste management, has become an instant expert on public transport finance.

"Anyway, there is not going to be just a simple formula on transport fares as every economist will agree that having a rigid formula will interfere with the free market," she told reporters on Monday.

You might have thought that someone with a degree in chemistry would have learned respect for formulae or otherwise long ago have poisoned or blown herself up in a lab. The theme of government these days, however, is to get away from hard and fast rules in favour of the Regina Ip school of we-are-nice-people-and you-can-trust-us.

In public transport this has meant abolishing schemes of profit control that limit earnings to a fixed percentage of investment in net fixed assets. The replacement guideline postulates an ill-defined "basket of factors". In other words, senior bureaucrats will decide what transport fares should be and there is no point in asking what mechanism underlies their decisions. There is none although they still like to use the word.

The factor that looms largest for a government that has never stood for election and is painfully conscious of this is public opinion. Thus we have Ms Liao talking of the need of a fare-setting mechanism (you have abolished them, madam) because public transport companies had rejected calls from the public for lower fares.

Let us get it straight first of all that we are talking here of reductions in fares already agreed with government. Ms Liao does have authority to regulate fares and transport companies do not blithely reject her decisions. They can, however, object when she wishes to change a fare structure to which she has already agreed.

Secondly, let us get it straight that the government also has no mechanism for getting an accurate reading of "calls from the public". With no ballot box to weigh public opinion, what we are talking of here is a few people who speak often and loudly at government talkshops.

Much as I deprecate this as a proxy for elections or referendums, let me hasten to say these people have a point. The latest accounts of Kowloon Motor Bus, for instance, show net earnings of HK$1.6 billion, which amount to a very comfortable 42.3 per cent return on average equity. If "basket of factors" was meant to place more emphasis on the travelling public's opinions, it seems to have had the opposite result. I think your people got snowed by one bus company at least, Ms Liao.

All of this only goes to say that "basket of factors" is a seriously flawed idea for regulating private companies that have public monopolies and I can understand why Ms Liao is so unhappy with the results that she wants to introduce new proposals. What I cannot understand is why she then still wants to incorporate "basket of factors" in them.

Of course there are problems with rigid mechanisms too but, all in all, they work better. The rules are there for all to see, which makes them clean, and they get rid of the dangers of political influence, public opinion measured by the decibel rating of placard wavers and bureaucrats paddling about in waters over their heads.

What is more, and contrary to what Ms Liao believes, rigid formulae do not interfere with the free market. They contribute to it. I can guarantee to her from my own experience as an investment analyst that what investors in infrastructure projects want is a financial framework on which they can build their calculations of return. Rigid formulae give them this.

It is no small matter. Uncertainty adds costs. Investors will pay a premium for something on which they can build up a reliable spreadsheet of projected cash flows and this helps significantly to reduce the costs of big projects and speed up their completion. I wonder if Ms Liao really understands the free market.

She is certainly fooling herself if she thinks she can get a substantial "platform for fair competition" in her new proposals. In a big country perhaps but Hong Kong is just too small and what she will get is inefficiency and duplication of cost among different operators. Like it or not, the best route here is still regulation.

And her best idea was to spend some time seeing how fares are determined overseas. I heartily recommend it to you, madam. The transport you want is a seat on the next flight to London.

You will be astounded by the sophisticated thought and exhaustive effort that have gone into resolving the questions there. You will also find little of this woolly "basket of factors" approach and much of clear-cut formulae.

It will be an eye-opener for you. Do it before you do anything else.

Email Jake van der Kamp at jakeva@scmp.com.

7. International law firm pulls out of slow HK
ENOCH YIU, SCMP 15 January 2003

Hong Kong's poor economy is driving international law firm CMS Cameron McKenna to close all its practices in Hong Kong except insurance.

The British-based company is also shutting its Beijing office but will keep a mainland presence through its Shanghai operation.

An official with the firm in London said 69 of its 75-member Hong Kong team would be laid off in the next six months. The six staff left were in the insurance team headed by partner Tim Ingham.

There are 40 lawyers among the 69 employees who will lose their jobs.

CMS Cameron McKenna's departure surprised rivals as many international law firms are expanding on the mainland to capture growing opportunities.

CMS Cameron McKenna chief executive Robert Derry-Evans said: "We regret the need to close much of our Hong Kong operations, but we are convinced that this is the correct decision.

"In recent years, it has been difficult to sustain a full-service practice in Hong Kong.

"While we have had some success with our private equity, insolvency and litigation practices, the markets for most legal services in the region are flat, and there are limited indications of an economic recovery.

"As a consequence, we have concluded that we should withdraw from these areas of business."

Mr Derry-Evans said the firm would continue to provide insurance and reinsurance legal services in Hong Kong.

"Our Hong Kong insurance practice has a very strong market position and has grown significantly in the past three years. We believe it offers potential for further growth."

Other aspects of its business will close during the next six months to allow existing projects to be completed or transferred to other firms.

Its clients are being informed about the change.

Mr Derry-Evans said the move would allow the company to focus more on the European market.

The company said its Shanghai operation, CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre, would retain a presence in the mainland market. The Shanghai office has 10 lawyers providing services in foreign investment, foreign investment taxation, international contracts, intellectual property, infrastructure projects and dispute solution.

A lawyer at the Hong Kong office, who did not want to be named, said: "This is crazy. China is going to become one of the biggest markets in the world. I and some of the other partners will switch to the other law firms which focus on the mainland market."

Rival law firm Lovells is taking a different approach.

"The present economy is weak and it is a tough time for law firms, but it is not preventing our company from expanding in Hong Kong and China," a Lovells official said.

"We have an office in Beijing and we are applying to open another office in Shanghai. We believe the China market will offer rapidly growing business opportunities."

8. Hong Kong should embrace its heritage
Margaret Ng, SCMP 15 January 2003

The controversy surrounding the proposal to remove the statue of King George VI from its current location in the Botanical Gardens and replace it with a statute of Dr Sun Yat-sen is not a storm in a teacup. On the contrary, it is symptomatic of an undercurrent ever agitating to cleanse Hong Kong of its colonial past. At times, the undercurrent merely seeks to deny history by removing the evidence. At other times, it breaks into ugly vindictiveness: as in the present case, when the deliberately insulting suggestion is made that the statute of the British monarch be moved next to the monkey enclosure. If unchecked, this kind of ignorance and vindictiveness will wreck Hong Kong.

Denying history is but a step to falsifying it. Dishonesty cannot be the basis of sound public policy. Hong Kong's strength lies not just in its being part of China, as Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa repeats tirelessly. It lies also in its difference from the rest of China, in its multicultural past and present, in its free trade, public administration and rule of law systems brought and left here by 150 years of colonial history. Allow ethnic cleansing to start, and no one will be able to control where it may end. Long before it ends, Hong Kong would have been reduced to insignificance. Hong Kong's economic situation, far from requiring a denial of its past, will benefit from an open and positive attitude of interest, acknowledgement, critical analysis and liberalisation.

Take the topical issue of integration with the Pearl River Delta. In his policy address, Mr Tung pinned his hopes for economic recovery on this integration. But we have to acknowledge that while "integration" may be a new term, Hong Kong has been increasingly engaged in trade and manufacturing on the mainland for the past two decades and more, reaching the high point in 1992 following Deng Xiaoping's symbolic southern tour. Hong Kong's investment and way of doing things and China's open economic policy have made the Pearl River Delta the production centre that it is.

What is happening now is part of a long historical development, and not the result of a sudden change brought about by reunification. What will benefit Hong Kong is to build on past developments, not to deny or ignore or rephrase them. What is needed is an up-to-date application of old skills to identify the new gaps and provide the new links.

For this to work, there must be strong reassurance that Hong Kong's separate systems will stand firm, and that job opportunities and investment will not only go in one direction - up north - but also down south to Hong Kong. This is the problem that needs to be addressed: not whether to support integration, but how integration should be mapped out and made to work.

Mr Tung has harped on the "mindset" of the Hong Kong public and civil servants as resisting "integration" because they cling to the colonial past and resist Chinese sovereignty. But that totally misses the point and leads his government nowhere.

Even on the question of tourism, spending money on building new tourist attractions while obliterating all trace of Hong Kong's colonial past is blatantly the wrong answer. The solution lies rather in the opposite direction. It is Hong Kong's complex cultural past and distinctly different style of life that attract tourists from East and West.

Hong Kong has a richer cultural past than is generally realised. In its history, there were not only British and Chinese. There were also Parsees, Jews, Pakistanis, Indians, Portuguese - each with their traditions. They were involved in building university colleges, churches, mosques, hospitals, orphanages and schools. They were merchants, lawyers, doctors, landowners and humble folk. They have left traces in mortar and concrete, as well as in language and literature and records everywhere. Hong Kong is just beginning to learn about its own history.

Parts of Hong Kong's past were ignored or overlooked by its colonial masters. There are traces of the activities of Dr Sun and his followers, of communists and nationalists, and of writers and poets to whom this place was a haven of peace and creativity. Their trails ought to be marked, too, and made known to residents and visitors.

In this rich medley, instead of consigning King George VI to oblivion or worse, the government should open the former Government House, across the road, to the public. Sell postcards and souvenirs. Mount exhibitions on its history. Let people take photographs in the garden among the rhododendrons and azaleas. Then let them go up to the Botanical Gardens, where a cafe will be built to serve afternoon tea under the trees.

I guarantee Hong Kong residents and tourists from abroad or from the mainland alike will flock there, and afterwards take home satisfying memories.

Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee is a legislator representing the legal profession.

9. Tung's speech did not boost confidence
JOSEPH CHENG, SCMP 15 January 2003

Apparently the chief executive managed to muddle through the first policy address of his second term. The speech was shorter than its predecessors, and the main theme - "revitalising our economy" - was in accord with the community's expectation. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa emphasised economic restructuring, forging closer economic co-operation with the mainland and eliminating the fiscal deficit.

However, this policy address has not bolstered the confidence of Hong Kong's citizens. In an opinion survey by the University of Hong Kong, 22 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the policy address while 26.9 per cent were dissatisfied.

The government did not have many new proposals to offer in terms of economic restructuring, and critics have focused on this lack of initiative on the part of the new team of ministers. On closer economic co-operation with the mainland, many Guangdong officials have openly expressed reservations and criticisms. Such views not only reveal the hollowness of the Hong Kong government's strategy; they also demonstrate that Hong Kong has wasted much precious time.

The stress on the economy and the avoidance of politics in the policy address make it uncontroversial and more easily accepted by the public. But the government has no clear-cut blueprint for an economic recovery, and it has not been able to strengthen the community's confidence.

The most serious weakness of the policy address is that it has failed to strengthen the community's solidarity. Hence, the government's expected efforts to raise revenues and cut spending will likely meet stiff opposition. When Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung mentions raising taxes for those who can afford it, the middle class immediately voice their anger. When Education Minister Arthur Li Kwok-cheung proposes increasing tuition fees for secondary schools and tertiary institutions, the education sector strongly opposes it.

The chief executive has not been trying to secure a mandate for his reforms. The economic difficulties and budget deficits mean a redistribution of public-sector resources, and everyone is concerned.

The government has succeeded in charging patients for visits to emergency wards in public hospitals, but at the price of generating a fear among the middle class that they eventually will have to pay for their hospital care, the only major social service that they still enjoy.

Mr Tung did not bother to present a policy platform when he ran for re-election. In the policy address, he refused to admit his mistakes and declined to appeal to the community to tighten its belt.

The performance of the government has not been inspiring, and people's trust in it has been in decline. How can it expect to easily persuade Hong Kong people to take the bitter medicine necessary to cure the budget deficit? A wiser approach is to solicit views from the concerned interest groups and the advisory committees, and show that the government has been responsive to public opinion.

Joseph Cheng Yu-shek is a professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong. (rcccrc@cityu.edu.hk)

10. Construction of the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line commences
KCRC Press Release, 9 January 2003

Mr. Michael Tien, Chairman of the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) today announced the commencement of the construction works for the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line.

Speaking at the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Groundbreaking Ceremony, Mr. Tien pledged that KCRC would endeavor to comply with all the requirements stipulated in the Environmental Permit for the Spur Line to ensure that the ecological system along the alignment was well protected.

"We have established an Environmental Committee and are pleased to have gained the support of major green groups to monitor the environmental mitigation measures implemented at Lok Ma Chau and Long Valley," said Mr. Tien.

"Upon completion, the Spur Line will provide an alternative railway boundary-crossing service for the people of Hong Kong, relieving the congestion at Lo Wu."

Dr Sarah Liao, Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works who officiated at the same ceremony said that with the growth in passenger and freight traffic between Hong Kong and the Mainland, both the Central Government and the HKSAR Government agreed that there was a need to enhance the transport development between Hong Kong and the Mainland.

Dr. Liao pointed said that upon completion of the Spur Line, the handling capacity of the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint would be increased to 150,000 travellers a day.

The 7.4 km Spur Line branches off the existing East Rail north of Sheung Shui Station and then goes through Chau Tau and Kwu Tung before it ends at Lok Ma Chau Station.

The Spur Line is packaged into four major civil contracts for the construction of the 9 hectare Lok Ma Chau Station, 2.2 km viaduct section, 5.2 km tunnel section and extended Sheung Shui Station. The first three contracts have already been awarded while the fourth one is expected to be awarded in the second quarter of 2003.

The Spur Line is scheduled for completion in 2007.