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1. Public to get final say on Wan Chai bypass

2. Culture-hub idea is under fire

3. We were kept in the dark: harbour advisers

4. Cartoon

1. Public to get final say on Wan Chai bypass
Paris Lord, The Standard 25 January 2005

Government officials will today attempt to counter Monday's media reports that pictures released by the Harborfront Enhancement Committee (HEC) showing routes for the Central-Wan Chai bypass were "options''.

The government says they were simply suggestions aimed at encouraging public discussion.

A special meeting of the sub-committee on Wan Chai development Phase II held on Monday night agreed to clarify news reports that the public has to choose from the three ``options'', with reclamation required for the road ranging from 10 hectares to 25 hectares.

A public consultation process also kicked off at the Sunday press conference.

Unusually for a public consultation being led by the enhancement committee, ideas were merely being floated. None of them will be implemented unless the public agrees, according to panel member Nicholas Brooke.

There are no preconceived ideas about what Wan Chai's land use and infrastructure needs should be, he said. It is up to the community to suggest ideas.

Brooke said sub-committee mem-bers realize the need to clarify their message so the community understands it is they who will have the final say.

A furious fellow sub-committee member, Paul Zimmerman, sent an e-mail from Europe to say the government's documents showing the routes do not represent the meaning, purpose or intent of the sub-committee's review of Wan Chai and adjoining areas.

``This document is a [Wan Chai phase II] reclamation [and] tunnel alignment engineering review document - precisely and entirely the opposite of what the membership of [the enhancement committee] has been recommending,'' Zimmerman said.

Because much of the surface traffic will be created by developments planned in Central, the government pictures of Wan Chai and adjoining areas are supposed to include Central - but they do not.

``We have urged an open and inclusive debate about transport in general for Wan Chai and Central ... to incorporate public concerns whether traffic demand management measures such as electronic road pricing, alternative modes of transport, and redesign of surface roads have been taken well into account,'' Zimmerman said.

Brooke said it had been a misunderstanding, and that the three pictures are not ``options'' for the bypass.

``They're purely by way of illustration,'' he said of newspaper pictures suggesting the routes could go underground or above ground. They are ``designed to provoke discussion, debate, and hopefully perhaps get innovative ideas from the community in terms of what other ways there might be of solving this particular traffic issue,'' Brooke added.

``As an HEC and indeed as sub-groups, we've got to learn perhaps to deal with the media better.

``We've got to make sure the messages we're trying to get across do get across.''

A spokeswoman for the comm-ittee's secretariat said the purpose of the pictures is to give sub-committee members ideas of how the Wan Chai routes might look, because the government has to show sub-committee members something.

The routes are ``a concept, not a proposal,'' she said, adding they were ``very preliminary.''

2. Culture-hub idea is under fire
ANDY CHENG, SCMP 25 January 2005

The piecemeal development approach to the West Kowloon cultural project proposed by the Institute of Architects has many drawbacks, including a lack of continuity, a shortlisted bidder says.

Henderson Land vice-chairman Colin Lam Ko-yin said if the arts and cultural facilities were developed separately, "they will be difficult to manage".

The institute last week called for the site to be developed in phases under different tenders to ensure it catered for changing cultural needs.

Mr Lam said another concern was the huge canopy planned to cover the site.

"The canopy cannot be built piece by piece because of its necessary foundations. Splitting its construction will cause safety problems. Other problems include responsibility for and maintenance of the canopy."

Henderson subsidiary World Culture Park is one of the three shortlisted bidders. The others are Dynamic Star International, a joint venture by Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Sun Hung Kai Properties; and Sunny Development, a consortium between Sino Land, Wharf (Holdings) and Chinese Estates Holdings.

A Dynamic Star International spokesman said it was open-minded about the tendering approach.

A Sunny Development spokeswoman said it needed to study the institute's proposal in detail.

Mr Lam said he was not concerned that the creation of a Legco subcommittee on the West Kowloon project - as proposed by lawmaker Alan Leong Kah-kit last week - would delay the project.

"If they [legislators] think there is a need to set up a panel, they should do it ... more debates will make things clearer."

3. We were kept in the dark: harbour advisers
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 25 January 2005

The government was accused yesterday of manipulating its harbour advisory body by releasing new Wan Chai reclamation plans in the group's name without briefing its members.

Members of the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee were advised by e-mail just hours before the latest proposals to reclaim up to 25 hectares on the Wan Chai waterfront were revealed on Sunday.

They were told to check a government website for the details, which had not been discussed at any committee meeting.

Angry members of the committee - set up last year with the stated aim of involving the community in decisions about the harbour - held a crisis meeting last night with government officials over the release.

The Business Environment Council's representative on the committee, Paul Zimmerman, said he had been shocked by the news.

"We were unaware of the plans until very late. They weren't presented either at any of the committee or subcommittee meetings," said Mr Zimmerman, who is also convenor of the Designing Hong Kong Harbour District group.

The plans were released on Sunday by Leung Kong-yui, chairman of the committee's Wan Chai development subcommittee.

Christine Loh Kung-wai, chairwoman of the Society for Protection of the Harbour and a committee member, said members knew nothing about the concept plans.

"It appears the government has manipulated the subcommittee. The plans were ... announced on Sunday so critical voices would find it hard to respond swiftly."

Mr Leung said it was a misunderstanding and he did not feel manipulated by the government.

He said he was briefed by the government a few days ago about the three options for reclamation.

"What we released were just some technical data, which will not derail the process of engaging public opinion. The plans are aimed at stimulating public discussion," said Mr Leung, who represents the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Hong Kong.

It is understood the full committee had only discussed in principle how the reclamation could proceed and how the public should be consulted. Mr Leung told the full committee at a meeting last Thursday that an "information kit" would be made public on Sunday, without mentioning the concept plans.

The government's three proposals, to reclaim between 10 and 25 hectares of land, include options to build a tunnel, elevated road or surface highway along the waterfront to ease traffic congestion. The biggest reclamation proposed is just one hectare less than the plan that was quashed by the Court of Final Appeal last year.

"These concept plans showed the government is determined to reclaim Victoria Harbour in order to sell land for commercial purposes," Ms Loh said.

The concept plans did not appear to have considered the Court of Final Appeal ruling that any reclamation must abide by the "overriding public needs" principle, she added.

Secretary for Housing, Planning and Land Michael Suen Ming-yeung said the plans were preliminary ideas and would not necessarily be chosen by the government.

After last night's meeting, Mr Leung said the committee would hold a press conference soon to explain the matter.

Chaired by civil engineering professor Lee Chack-fan, the Harbour Enhancement Committee comprises six senior government officials and 23 members of green groups, business groups, interest groups and individuals.

4. Cartoon
SCMP 25 January 2005