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Five may bid for HOS project 2.
Sun Hung Kai tycoon expresses interest in cross-border
bridge
1. Five may bid for HOS project
Staff
reporter, The Standard 20 January 2003 Five
developers, including Cheung Kong (Holdings), may bid for a government-sponsored
residential project in Hung Hom. Cheung
Kong executive director Justin Chiu said other developers had expressed interest
in launching bids jointly with his company for projects that had been built under
the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS), but he would not rule out the possibility of
a solo bid. The deciding factor would be sales and pricing, he said. The
project, Hung Hom Peninsula, was built under the Home Ownership Scheme, and had
been expected to be sold to private developers after the scheme was scrapped by
the government last year in order to stabilise the ailing property market. The
project, with 2,470 units, was co-developed with New World Development. New World
and the government also has another HOS project in Ngau Chi Wan with 2,010 units,
which market watchers expected to be sold to private developers as well. The
two projects are worth as much as HK$6.72 billion, assuming an average unit price
of HK$1.5 million. New
World is believed to be in talks with the Housing Authority on the land premium
it needs to pay for the two projects so that they can be sold as private flats. Sun
Hung Kai Properties vice-chairman Thomas Kwok said yesterday the company was interested
in buying HOS flats. He
said that, if the government sold Hung Hom Peninsula, the pricing should be in
line with Cheung Kong's Laguna Verde in the same district. Apartments at Laguna
Verde averaged HK$4,000 per square feet, he said. Chiu
said private developers would not rush to sell Hung Hom Peninsula as they might
add facilities such as a clubhouse and a swimming pool, and repackage and rename
it before offering the apartments to the public. Apart
from Laguna Verde, Cheung Kong also has Harbour Front Landmark and Metropolis
Suites, a co-development project with the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation,
in Hung Hom. Meanwhile,
the secondary market for HOS flats shrank for a third consecutive year, with sales
contracts falling 7.41 per cent last year to 5,999 from 6,479 a year earlier,
according to Centaline Property's research unit. In
value terms, the HOS secondary market fell 15.4 per cent to HK$5.63 billion last
year, the fifth year of decline, from HK$6.65 billion in 2001. Average
transaction value was HK$940,000, down 8 per cent from 2001 and 55 per cent from
the HK$2.11 million average in 1997, the property agent said.
2. Sun Hung Kai tycoon expresses interest in cross-border bridge
JIMMY
CHEUNG, SCMP 20 January 2003 Property
tycoon Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong has expressed an interest in investing in a cross-border
bridge between Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. The
Sun Hung Kai Properties vice-chairman is the second to eye the controversial infrastructure
proposal after Hopewell Holdings chairman Gordon Wu Ying-sheung. "If
the government offers a franchise which lasts 40 or 50 years, then I think many
businessmen, including us, would consider investing," he said. Sun
Hung Kai Properties is leading the consortium running the Route 3 expressway,
which was given a 30-year franchise. The
response came after Guangdong Planning Commission director Huang Weihong made
an open appeal last week for potential investors to come forward for further talks.
He said the Guangdong authorities were not prepared to finance the project, which
is expected to cost about $15 billion. Sir
Gordon, who first championed the project to boost development in the west of the
Pearl River Delta, reportedly pledged to take the initiative in a letter sent
to the Guangdong authorities early last year. The
bridge proposal gathered momentum after Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa made closer
co-operation with the region a top priority in his policy speech. Referring
to round-the-clock opening of border checkpoints from next Monday, Mr Kwok admitted
it would have a short-term effect on property prices in the New Territories. But
he said Hong Kong would ultimately benefit, because more mainlanders would invest
in local properties. | 
