1 Residential projects ignore rules, study finds
Helen Wu, SCMP, Feb 16, 2008
Nearly one in four private residential developments do not comply with Town Planning Board conditions, a university study has revealed.
Flat buyers in these developments might end up bearing the cost of meeting the conditions, Lawrence Lai Wai-chung, of the University of Hong Kong's department of real estate and construction, warned yesterday.
The study surveyed 82 major residential development projects, of which 36 were completed.
Planning conditions, including the building of footbridges and the provision of open public areas, were yet to be met in 10 of the completed projects.
Some of the problematic developments were the joint Urban Renewal Authority-New World Development Merton project in Western district, Henderson Land (SEHK: 0012)'s Metro Harbour View in Tai Kok Tsui, Sun Hung Kai's Yoho Town in Yuen Long, and Wheelock Properties (SEHK: 0049)' Bellagio in Sham Tseng.
They were said to have delayed or failed to provide footbridges, pedestrian links or open public space.
Professor Lai said the planning conditions were imposed by the Town Planning Board to ensure the developments would bring a certain "planning gain" to the neighbourhood.
But the board usually did not set a time limit for when the conditions had to be fulfilled, nor did it have any power to inspect developments to see whether the conditions had been satisfactorily met.
"At present, there is no statutory enforcement of planning conditions if the conditions are not incorporated into a land lease," Professor Lai said.
"It gives a free hand to developers, who can choose whether to comply or not." Professor Lai suggested imposing a penalty on the director of a developer if the planning conditions were not realised or were unreasonably delayed.
But developers of the four projects disagreed with the criticism.
Ricky Wong Kwong-yiu, executive director of Wheelock Properties, said the land lease only required the company to leave a space for the landing of a pedestrian link in Bellagio. He said another property owner had already built a footbridge there.
An Urban Renewal Authority spokesman said the Planning Department had indicated to the authority in September 2005 that it had fulfilled all the planning conditions for the Merton.
A Sun Hung Kai spokeswoman said it planned to build the footbridge during construction of Yoho Town phase two, targeted for completion in 2010, and that the company had pledged to pay for it in full.
A spokesman for Henderson Land said the company would look into the matter.
A Town Planning Board spokesman said it would study the findings and suggestions once it had received the report.
2 Plan to cement Kai Tak nullah abandoned
Olga Wong, SCMP, Feb 16, 2008
The Kai Tak nullah will be integrated with parks. Photo: Oliver Tsang
The notorious Kai Tak nullah - once one of the city's most putrid waterways - is to get a new life as a landscaped stream along its full length.
The government has abandoned plans to cement over part of the nullah in Wong Tai Sin and the Drainage Services Department is working on a plan to be released for consultation next month.
The change of heart follows the submission of a proposal by legislator Chan Yuen-han, who urged that the 1,200-metre stream be modelled on the revitalised Cheonggyecheon Stream in the heart of Seoul.
Water quality in the nullah - which often produced an acrid stench over surrounding neighbourhoods and the former Kai Tak airport - is said to have improved, but conservationists say it will have to be raised further if the proposal is to go ahead.
The nullah, stretching from Hoi Hung Road to Prince Edward Road East and entering Victoria Harbour beside the former airport runway, is divided into upper and lower courses. The 500-metre upper course, from Wong Tai Sin police station to Tai Shing Street, was to have been covered.
Ms Chan said yesterday she hoped the government, now that it had given up the idea of "killing" the watercourse, would follow the example of the Seoul stream, which was said to have cut average temperatures in the city centre by 3.6 degrees Celsius.
"If you walk along the nullah before sunset, you will find egrets stopping by and fish swimming in it," said Ms Chan, who prepared the alternative proposal along with Chinese University and the Conservancy Association.
Association campaign manager Peter Li Siu-man said the nullah had a long history. "It has existed for at least 800 years. It was a meandering stream named the Lung Chung River, but it was straightened and formed into a nullah by the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war to prevent flooding."
The waterway, once polluted by effluent from now-closed factories along its route, is fed mostly by the water treatment plant in Sha Tin.
But Mr Li said waste water and illegal discharges from restaurants also flowed into the nullah.
Under the proposal, the nullah would be integrated with surrounding parks and former industrial areas to become a space for public art. Rows of trees would be planted.
The designer of the proposal, Wallace Chang Ping Hung of Chinese University's department of architecture, urged the government to keep the water catchment area in the former Tai Hom village so a water garden could be set up to link to the river.
The proposal also calls for a cycling path along the lower course and retention of Nga Tsin Wai village - the last urban walled village, most of which is slated for demolition.
Surrounded by a green belt, it would serve to link the old district and the new Kai Tak development.
