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1. Tycoon calls for Wan Chai heliport

2. HK looks to IT tsar for direction

3. Dilbert by Scott Adams

4. Reclamation work for bypass 'not needed'

5. Get on with cultural hub, art groups tell cautious legislators

1. Tycoon calls for Wan Chai heliport
AMBROSE LEUNG, SCMP 1 February 2005

One of Hong Kong's leading tycoons, Michael Kadoorie, is pushing for a permanent heliport on the Wan Chai waterfront to improve the city's competitiveness as a regional transport hub.

The plan would involve reclaiming about 1,500 square metres of the harbour next to the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Under a plan now under consultation, the government wants to build a privately funded heliport on the Sheung Wan waterfront to serve flights within Hong Kong, and another one above an existing pier next to Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai to be used by the Government Flying Service.

But this plan has been criticised by district councils in both areas affected and the aviation industry on the grounds that the Sheung Wan site is too close to residential areas and would be too far from the central business district.

Deputy Secretary for Economic Development Wilson Fung Wing-yip said the government would adopt an open mind to Mr Kadoorie's proposal, but added that laws constraining land reclamation could block the development.

Speaking at a joint meeting of the Legislative Council's economic services and planning panels, the tycoon said the government should scrap its plan to construct a heliport in Sheung Wan and instead locate it in Wan Chai.

Mr Kadoorie - director of Sir Elly Kadoorie and Sons, which owns helicopter services among other public utilities - said his proposed location would strengthen the city's long-term competitiveness as a regional transport hub.

"The call to provide easy access and communication for executives, visitors and overseas buyers to empower cross-border businesses and tourism - the lifeblood of Hong Kong and the livelihood of many of our ordinary workforce - is of vital importance if we are to retain our prominence in the Pearl River Delta," he said.

"Time is money. Instead of [hours] from here to other places, it could now take 15 minutes. This is like a taxi service."

Mr Kadoorie said the government's proposed site would be poorly utilised.

Under his proposal, made in the name of the Hong Kong Regional Heliport Working Group, the existing pier next to the convention centre would be transformed into a heliport complex built by the government and shared between government and private operators.

It would include government offices, restaurants, departure and arrival halls, and parking facilities.

Legislators from the Liberal Party, the Democrats and the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong generally agreed there was a pressing need for a permanent heliport in the city centre after the closure of the Central Heliport in Admiralty in 2003.

While there was concern among legislators about the need for further harbour reclamation, some believed a relatively small reclamation in addition to the one already being sought in the area could be feasible.

Domestic helicopter services for sightseeing, business charters and aerial surveying surged by 126 per cent between 2001 and 2003, and it is estimated it will grow an average of 6.3 per cent a year towards 2020.

The helicopter service industry is pushing for a relaxation of air services arrangements under the growing integration of the Pearl River Delta.

2. HK looks to IT tsar for direction
BIEN PEREZ, SCMP 1 February 2005

Howard Dickson, a British-born engineer and former Canadian government official, on Tuesday starts his three-year term as Hong Kong's information technology tsar.

He was appointed to head the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) on January 21, after a global executive search that started last July.

Mr Dickson will lead the development, promotion and adoption of information technology in Hong Kong, and manage the government's annual IT budget. He will also assist the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, John Tsang Chun-wah, in formulating strategies to drive the Hong Kong IT sector.

"I am sure Mr Dickson will bring fresh perspectives to the work of the OGCIO and inject new impetus into IT and e-government development in Hong Kong," Mr Tsang said.

The office was formed on July 1 from the merger of the Information Technology Services Department (ITSD) and the IT-related divisions in the Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau's communications and technology branch.

Former ITSD director Alan Wong Chi-kong served as interim government chief information officer from July until yesterday.

Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping said Mr Dickson possessed sound professional skills, solid working experience in the public and private sectors and proven administrative abilities.

Mr Dickson has had an extensive career in IT and business in Canada, where he emigrated in 1967 after graduating from the University of London a year earlier.

In 1997, he was named the first chief information officer for Canada's Department of National Defence and served for two terms. He also served as assistant deputy minister for information management from 1999 until last year.

3. Dilbert by Scott Adams
SCMP, 1 February 2005

4. Reclamation work for bypass 'not needed'
Paris Lord, The Standard 1 February 2005

The Central-Wan Chai bypass can be built without reclamation, and the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee should unveil plans showing how people can walk along both sides of the harbor, the Action Group on Protection of Victoria Harbour said on Monday.

The group wants to meet the SAR's environment and planning secretaries, and will submit its waterfront development proposals as part of a public consultation launched last week about Wan Chai and adjoining areas.

Group convenor and medical constituency lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki said three proposals released last week by the Wan Chai subcommittee of the enhancement committee were gov-ernment-driven.

The West Kowloon Cultural District could become home to luxury apartments and commercial buildings, not a giant public park the land was designed to be when proposed more than a decade ago, Kwok said.

``If the government is really concerned about harbor enhancement, why shouldn't they come out and improve the harbor to the extent the present reclaimed land can be much better utilized by the public,'' he said.

Kwok said while the group is not endorsing the bypass, the government should listen to its traffic planners and instead introduce electronic road pricing. Enhancement committee members said the consultation will not be scrapped, and the proposals are only meant to encourage public debate, not to imply people have to choose a reclamation option. The government's argument that the bypass will ease traffic congestion is like using a Band-Aid to treat a severe wound, protection group member and Medical Association vice-president Louis Shih said.

In August, conservation group Save Our Shorelines said its engineers could build a bypass in a tunnel requiring fewer than five hectares of reclamation. The government rejected the plan, saying it would clash with an existing railway tunnel.

The bypass forms part of a massive redevelopment planned for the Central, Admiralty and Wan Chai waterfront, but split into several phases.

While the 18-hectare HK$3.75 billion Central phase III reclamation continues, the Wan Chai section has stalled pending a review to determine if it passes the ``overriding public need test'' laid down by the Court of Final Appeal in January 2004. The bypass cannot be finished without the Wan Chai section.

The Society for Protection of the Harbour in September said it estimated the government will sell 1.2 million square meters of the Central reclamation for commercial buildings up to 16 stories that will block the public's harbor views and access.

The government last September said the Central reclamation will include at least two buildings - one of two stories, the other 10 stories but stepping down to the waterfront.

In October 2003, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa told the Australian Chamber of Commerce the Central reclamation will have ``no commercial buildings on it.''

A government spokesman said on Monday that the main purpose for the Wan Chai north development project is for a ``trunk road project'' comprising the bypass and the Island Eastern Corridor ``link.''

The government does not intend to sell land reclaimed in the Wan Chai project for commercial development, he said.

5. Get on with cultural hub, art groups tell cautious legislators
Sylvia Hui, The Standard 1 February 2005

More than 10 cultural and professional groups urged the government on Mon-day to proceed with the West Kowloon cultural project as quickly as possible.

But legislators described the call as "reckless'' and said there are still many concerns surrounding the HK$40 billion project, including the giant canopy controversy, the lack of transparent financial arrangements and the single-developer approach.

In response to allegations by the groups that the West Kowloon issue is being ``over-politicized'', Frontier lawmaker Emily Lau said: ``We cannot support something that is not right.''

Legal sector lawmaker Margaret Ng told the concern groups attending Monday's panel meeting: ``We understand your pressing need for performance venues, but are you ready to disregard everything in your haste?''

Independent lawmaker Albert Chan asked whether the cultural groups have themselves become ``guards'' of the interests of developers.

Some professional groups did agree with legislators there is a need to set up a statutory body to oversee the project and to reassess the government's whole approach to developing West Kowloon.

``The government is not exactly following the private-public partnership practise like it says it is,'' Paul Ho of the Institute of Surveyors said.

``There is no cost-benefit analysis as far as I know. The government is not in a good position to negotiate with the developers.''

Cultural groups calling on the government to proceed include the Fringe Club, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and theater company Spring Time Group. They are more concerned with Hong Kong's lack of performance venues.

``Hong Kong desperately needs a cultural landmark,'' Cissy Pao of the Hong Kong Ballet said.

``There is a real urgency to build our cultural district,'' Benny Chia, director of the Fringe Club, said. ``Many other places in the Asian region have their own venues. Hong Kong will fall behind if we don't go ahead with the project soon.''

The groups were backed by pro-government legislator Selina Chow, who believes construction work can begin while discussions continue.
Government representative Au King-chi, deputy secretary for planning and lands, said the conditions in the Invitation for Proposals can be made more detailed to ensure public concerns are addressed.

``We may add more requirements, such as requesting the developers to set up a statutory trust [to govern the project], in accordance with everyone's concerns,'' she said.

The attending parties were briefed with a presentation of Swire Properties' proposal for West Kowloon, which was rejected by the government in November 2004 because it did not accommodate a canopy and featured a ``cultural harbor'' instead of a cultural district.

Gordon Ongley, director and general manager at Swire, said he is concerned about the feasibility of the canopy.``We should focus on our existing facilities and greening Hong Kong's harbor, our core asset,'' he said.