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1. San Shek Wan top choice for mega bridge's landing point

2. HK landing picked for Delta bridge

3. Contracts signed for Chek Lap Kok expansion

4. Picture of day 12 Jan 05

5. Rezoning call for cultural district plan

1. San Shek Wan top choice for mega bridge's landing point
Dennis Chong, The Standard 12 January 2005

San Shek Wan on Lantau Island is the best starting point for a proposed bridge linking Hong Kong with Zhuhai and Macau, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang said.

``Our feasibility study shows that San Shek Wan is the only place in terms of environmental protection and economic effectiveness,'' Tsang said.

``It is also compatible with the long-term development of Hong Kong,'' he said, adding that the final route and the landing points in Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai for the

bridge - which is expected to cost around HK$15 billion by the time it is finished - have yet to be decided.

San Shek Wan lies immediately south of Hong Kong International Airport.

Tsang was speaking after the fourth Working Meeting of Hong Kong and Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference in Guangzhou.

Tang Bingquan, executive vice-governor of Guangdong province who co-chaired the meeting with Tsang, said

there were several construction issues that needed resolving.

``One major concern is the environment with many people expressing concern about the Chinese white dolphin which lives in these waters,'' he said.

Green groups have criticised the government for not allocating funds to research the impact of the bridge on the endangered dolphins.

Tang said a committee set up to plan the bridge has shortlisted two routes but he refused to reveal further details, adding that a final decision will be made soon. The super bridge is expected to handle about 20,000 vehicles each day and will be the fifth cross-boundary link between the mainland and the SAR once it is built.

About 12 kilometers of the bridge will be in Hong Kong waters.

This section will connect to the 30-kilometer portion in mainland waters across the mouth of the Pearl River from Macau and Zhuhai.

Hopewell Holdings chairman Gordon Wu, one of the strongest supporters of the proposal, said earlier the bridge is likely to be completed by 2008

2. HK landing picked for Delta bridge
LEU SIEW YING in Guangzhou, SCMP 12 January 2005

Hong Kong and Guangdong officials have agreed that San Shek Wan in northwest Lantau will be the Hong Kong landing point for the bridge linking the city with Zhuhai and Macau, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen announced yesterday.

But the two sides would need to further discuss and study the landing points in Macau and Zhuhai, Mr Tsang said after meeting Guangdong Executive Vice-Governor Tang Binquan , his counterpart in the Guangdong-Hong Kong Co-operation Joint Conference.

Mr Tsang described San Shek Wan as the best landing point in Hong Kong from an environmental conservation and economic point of view.

He said the Hong Kong-Guangdong-Macau co-ordinating committee had met last month to discuss a feasibility report prepared by the China Highway Planning and Design Institute, which identified 10 routes for the bridge and recommended four routes.

The co-ordinating committee comprising government representatives from Guangdong, Macau, Zhuhai and Hong Kong had examined the possibilities, Mr Tsang said, and would concentrate on finding an option acceptable to all parties.

"This is a priority project. We have to work on it patiently," he said. "We have already done a lot of work but it requires compromise, it requires understanding, and a detailed study by all concerned."

The suggested first route would land near the Gongbei border crossing, where it would split to provide separate access to Zhuhai and Macau.

The second route would go to Zhuhai's outlying Hengqin Island. The last option lands at Macau, with a tunnel built underneath the Macau-Taipa bridge to reach Zhuhai.

Reporting progress on a related highway project, Mr Tang said both sides would work together to ensure the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor link was completed by June or July next year.

Mr Tang and Mr Tsang were holding a working meeting to lay the groundwork for a summit between Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Guangdong Governor Huang Huahua .

Both officials said it was decided at the meeting that Guangdong and Hong Kong would mount a joint investment promotion mission to Canada this summer.

It would be the third time the city and Guangdong have co-operated to attract investment to the greater Pearl River Delta and pan-Pearl River Delta regions.

Mr Tang also said both sides would be working together to promote co-operation in the two regions.

Reviewing Guangdong-Hong Kong co-operation in the past year, Mr Tang said two-way trade had risen 23 per cent to US$226.15 billion from January to November and was expected to pass US$246 billion for the full year

3. Contracts signed for Chek Lap Kok expansion
JOSEPH LO, SCMP 12 January 2005

The Airport Authority has signed construction contracts worth billions of dollars for its SkyPlaza terminal expansion and extension of underground shuttles to Chek Lap Kok's cross-border ferry terminal.

The new developments are part of a huge expansion of facilities - which includes a golf course and convention and exhibition centre - that will result in a radically changed Chek Lap Kok when the projects are completed by the end of 2007.

A $2 billion contract to construct SkyPlaza was officially awarded yesterday to a joint venture between Chun Wo Holdings, a local construction company, and Fujita Corporation of Japan.

The joint venture will also extend the tunnel through which the airport's shuttle system runs, from SkyPlaza to its SkyPier ferry terminal.

A separate contract was awarded to Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries to provide the extended shuttle system.

The SkyPlaza project is the largest development to be undertaken at the airport since its opening in 1998 and doubles Chek Lap Kok's capacity to handle passengers.

The new building will provide space for 120 shops, 20 food and beverage outlets, and four themed entertainment zones that will include a cinema, a multimedia arcade and flight simulator rides.

"SkyPlaza will be a focal point of activities" at the airport, said Hans Bakker, the airport's commercial director.

SkyPlaza will be located on the opposite side of the Airport Express station from the existing terminal and will host a new cross-border coach terminal.

The present taxi and bus pick-up bays will also be moved there.

Mr Bakker said SkyPlaza was due to be completed by the middle of next year, around the same time as the new airport conference and exhibition complex.

An airport hotel and the second ferry berth at SkyPier are scheduled to be completed by the second half of 2007.

The golf course, which can be reclaimed by the airport if further commercial or terminal space is needed in the future, will open in the middle of next yea

4. Picture of day 12 Jan 05
SCMP 12 January 2005 Photo: AP

A massive boulder blocks Topanga Canyon Road in Malibu.

5. Rezoning call for cultural district plan
Sylvia Hui, The Standard 12 January 2005

The Democratic Party has called on the Town Planning Board to rezone the controversial West Kowloon cultural district site and to reassert its control over its development.

In a written application on Tuesday, the party and four other applicants asked the board to exercise more control over the 40-hectare project site.

The applicants want the board to change the land-use zoning from the current ``other specified uses'' to a ``comprehensive development area [cultural development].''

The term ``other specified uses'' allows for too much flexibility and includes hotels, shops as well as places of entertainment, the party said.

Under this scheme, the winning developer will only have to negotiate with the government, not the board, for any amendment to land use.

``The Town Planning Board has no legal power to reject any preferred scheme for West Kowloon,'' party vice- chairman Albert Ho said.

``The government's pretense that the board still retains control over the matter is illusory and misleading.

``The board is now, for the first time, being reduced to an adviser serving the administration, and that sets a dangerous precedent,'' he said.

Ho said only in very rare cases should land be zoned for ``other specified uses.'' Changing the zoning to ``comprehensive development area'' means any future amendment to a development plan will have to be formally approved by the Town Planning Board. It will also enable the public to scrutinize all proposals and amend-ments because they must be gazetted.

Should the board approve the rezoning request, the whole West Kowloon project will virtually have to start from square one.

The single-developer approach will have to be scrapped and developers will have to resubmit their plans and follow the board's strict requirements, Ho said.

He expects the board to respond within three months.

``If our request is rejected for no good reason, we may consider pursuing a judicial review,'' he added.

Meanwhile, 10 design entries from the 2001 Open Concept Competition for the West Kowloon cultural district, not chosen by the government, are on display until Saturday at the Fringe Club in Central. The entries, including a design by Swire Properties, will enable the public to see alternatives to the Norman Foster-designed winning entry and its controversial canopy, a Fringe Club spokeswoman said.

The government on Tuesday invited proposals from five independent academic research institutes for their consultancy services in connection with the West Kowloon cultural district public consultation exercise.

The successful consultant will conduct telephone polls and analyze public views received during the consultation.

The consultant will be required to conduct three random telephone polls, during the consultation period, to triangulate the various public views.

A decision on which consultant will be used is expected to be announced in about a month.