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1. Government welcomes High Court judgment on Central Reclamation Phase III

2. ‘Full ahead’ on harbour fill-in

3. Harbour reclamation broke no rules

4. Response strong for URA project in Tsuen Wan

1. Government welcomes High Court judgment on Central Reclamation Phase III
Hong Kong Government, 9 March 2004

The Government welcomes the judgment handed down by the High Court today (March 9) regarding the Central Reclamation Phase III (CRIII) project which removes the doubt over the legitimacy of the works. With all the court cases relating to Victoria Harbour set aside, the Government appeals for joint action to enhance the harbourfront for the enjoyment of the community.

The court refused the judicial review lodged by the Society for Protection of the Harbour in respect of the Central District (Extension) Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) following a hearing before the Hon Mr Justice Hartmann from February 9 to 16.

In his judgment, the Hon Mr Justice Hartmann pointed out that what lay at the heart of the judicial review application was the power and responsibilities of the Chief Executive in Council exercised pursuant to the Town Planning Ordinance.

The court's judgment has reconfirmed that the power to revoke an approved OZP or to seek its amendment rests entirely with the Chief Executive in Council.

The judge ruled that in determining that there was no need to revoke or amend the Central OZP taking all factors into account, the Chief Executive in Council was exercising his discretion under section 12 of the Town Planning Ordinance and was acting lawfully and reasonably.

The Government fully recognised the statutory duty to protect and preserve the harbour placed on all public bodies and officers.

Referring to public statements by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands and his 2004 Policy Agenda commitment, the spokesman reiterated that other than the
CRIII and proposed reclamations in Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon, there would be no more reclamations within the harbour.

The Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon proposals are under review to ensure full compliance with the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance based on the single "overriding public need test" laid down by the Court of Final Appeal.

"Both the Government and the Town Planning Board have attached importance to early consultations with the public, the Legislative Council, District Councils and professional bodies in these reviews. We expect to produce conceptual plans for Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon for consultation by end-2004," the spokesman said.

Turning to CRIII, the spokesman said that Government had received feedback from various bodies and groups over the past few months voicing their support for the essential transport infrastructure to resolve the foreseeable traffic congestion problem in the Central and Wan Chai areas. "The court's judgment has enabled us to continue with the CRIII project to meet essential transport needs and to develop the land to form a vibrant and accessible waterfront.

"The CRIII has a contract period of 55 months. Partial suspension of certain marine works in the past few months has caused some delays. We will fully resume the CRIII works to ensure early completion to meet the public needs. We will talk with the consultant and the contractor to see whether there are any mitigation measures or rescheduling of the sequence of works that could recoup some of the delays," the spokesman added.

The Government is fully aware of sentiment against further harbour reclamation to build more roads to meet growing transport needs in the future.

"Pending the completion of the Central - Wan Chai Bypass and the surface roads in Central, we are putting in place various transport management measures to relieve traffic congestion. We will continue with these efforts to meet future transport needs," the spokesman added.

The Government has over the past few months listened to views expressed by the community and has repeatedly assured the public of the Government's commitment to protect the harbour.

"We would like to thank the community for expressing their aspirations for the harbour. We believe that through engaging the public over the past few months, the community has built a strong consensus to protect and preserve the harbour.

As a further step to working with the community to achieve our common vision for the harbour, the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands will shortly appoint an Advisory Committee on Enhancement of the Harbourfront to advise the Government on how to enhance the harbourfront for the enjoyment of the public. Specifically, the committee will:

a) provide feedback for the reviews on the remaining proposed reclamation within the harbour, namely the Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon reclamation proposals;

b) advise on the planning, land use, design and development issues relating to the existing and new harbourfront;

c) advise on means to enlist greater public involvement in the planning and design of the harbourfront areas; and

d) explore optimal ways to manage the harbourfront areas, including private-sector partnership.

Membership of the committee will be announced separately," the spokesman said.

2. ‘Full ahead’ on harbour fill-in
Paris Lord, The Standard 10 March 2004

Dejected and fighting back tears after losing a crucial harbour development court case, anti-reclamation activist and lawyer Winston Chu yesterday urged the public to speak out on the future of Hong Kong's harbour.

But as the harbour defenders licked their wounds, Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Carrie Lam vowed a quick start on the project's main public works.

``If you want the road, build the road, even if there's reclamation,'' Chu said angrily, declaring the fate of the harbour is now in the court of public opinion.

``It's a decision to be taken by the people of Hong Kong, not by our society, not by the government, that is the message.''

Chu was reacting after the Court of First Instance dismissed a judicial review into the HK$3.79 billion Central phase III project.

Chu said the Society for the Protection of the Harbour would consult their legal counsel before deciding whether to appeal.

The government's victory likely clears the way for the controversial Central-Wan Chai bypass to proceed without significant delays, unless further appeals are sought.

The decision dealt a crushing blow to harbour conservationists who had hoped to reverse decades of government-sponsored reclamation and development of Victoria Harbour.

Lam welcomed the ruling by Justice Michael Hartmann.

She said quick action was required because ``the public want to see a responsible and decisive government''.

The government will convene an advisory committee to survey ideas on waterfront development, Lam promised.

Chu was visibly shaken by the ruling. Speaking in the High Court after briefly scanning Justice Hartmann's 47-page judgment, Chu turned to reporters crowding him and said: ``We went down.'' Nearly in tears, he added: ``We did our best.''

Chu was overheard saying he had planned to leave Hong Kong in October, but thought he might now stay to continue the fight against reclamation.

The society took the government to court last month because it disputed the Executive Council's role in approving plans for the Central reclamation.

The government argued that reclamation was necessary for infrastructure works, including the Central-Wan Chai bypass, which it claims is necessary to reduce traffic congestion.

The society argued that under section 12 of the Town Planning Ordinance, the Executive Council had no plan-making powers and only the Town Planning Board could make or amend plans.

Because the Central reclamation plan was prepared and approved by the Exco based on a wrong interpretation of the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance - as determined by a High Court ruling last July - the plans should have been remitted back to the planning board for review, the society argued.

Justice Hartmann disagreed, ruling: ``The Chief Executive in Council was not going through a process of deciding how best to replace or amend the plan and was not usurping the powers of the board.''

He later added: ``This application for judicial review must be refused.''

Society chairwoman Christine Loh yesterday said there was no dispute by the government or the society that the Central plan was made under a misinterpretation of the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance.

Veteran harbour campaigner Chu, the society's former chairman, resigned last October and fled Hong Kong after allegedly receiving death threats.

He has grown weary of fighting the reclamation battle, he said. This was the sixth case he has been involved with in nine years.

The government has said the Town Planning Board is reviewing both the Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon reclamation plans to see if they meet the test.

Yesterday's judgment raised questions about the town planning powers of Exco, Chu warned.

``If this judgment is right, then the powers of the Town Planning Board will be very much diminished.''

Exco made its decisions behind closed doors, without any reference to the public, nor was the public allowed to speak before Exco or examine its papers, Chu said.

He said it was strange that litigation was necessary to try to ``enforce the law against the administration''. He then grew angry, saying if the public wanted reclamation to proceed, government should ask them.

Loh said further legal remedies will probably not be pursued. She urged the public to lobby their legislators and write to Exco.

Yesterday's judgment is ``not the end of the line,'' Loh said.

Permanent secretary Lam said it was time to set aside all differences and try to ``move ahead''.

``Even some community organisations have come out to say that regardless of the outcome of the High Court judgment, both sides should not contemplate any further appeal and let the Hong Kong community move on,'' she said.

The 16-member Citizen Envisioning @ Harbour coalition also said the society should not appeal, saying it would waste time and money better spent on building a consensus for future development.

Delays caused by the legal battles, Lam said, will force the government to pay compensation to the contractor, the Leighton-China State-Van Oord joint venture.

During the judicial review, the government argued that if the Town Planning Board decided to terminate the contract after reviewing the plans, the government faced a HK$659 million compensation bill.

3. Harbour reclamation broke no rules
SARA BRADFORD, SCMP 10 March 2004

The government's reclamation of Victoria Harbour to add 18 hectares to the Central waterfront for a bypass is back on track after a court ruled work could proceed.

The Society for the Protection of the Harbour was seeking an order that the Executive Council send the plans back to the Town Planning Board. In denying the application, Mr Justice Michael Hartmann yesterday supported the chief executive's powers in the planning process.

The society expressed disappointment and said it would seek legal advice before considering an appeal.

Its chairwoman, Christine Loh Kung-wai, said there was concern the judgment might have curtailed the powers of the Town Planning Board and restricted the public's ability to influence the planning process. The society's former chairman, Winston Chu Ka-sun, said: "We have no right to access [Executive Council deliberations]. We have no right to access the papers. The judgment has denied the public their right."

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, welcomed the decision of the Court of First Instance. She said it confirmed the legitimacy and validity of phase three of the Central reclamation.

She said no new reclamation was planned beyond the current works scheduled for Central, Wan Chai and East Kowloon. "The government has a responsibility to protect and retain the harbour because it is our natural resource," she said.

The judicial review considered Exco's decision in December not to scrap the Central reclamation or send the plans, first passed in 1992, back to the planning board.

The Court of Final Appeal ruled in January that reclamation of the harbour had to satisfy the criterion of "overriding public need".

The Society for the Protection of the Harbour argued that, in light of that ruling, reconsidering the plans under procedures in the Town Planning Ordinance was the only way to restore legal validity to the Central reclamation.

But government lawyers said although it was agreed the Central plans were prepared based on a misinterpretation of the Harbour Ordinance, it had commissioned an engineering review which found the plans still met legal requirements.

They also said the chief executive had exercised his discretion under the Town Planning Ordinance and that the decision to proceed with reclamation was therefore lawful.

Agreeing with that argument, Mr Justice Hartmann said: "I am satisfied that the ordinance obliges the chief executive in council to make planning decisions, often of a detailed nature, in a variety of circumstances."

The judge said the chief executive had taken into account a range of administrative and policy matters in deciding whether he was bound to send the plans back to the board.

"But in the present case time has passed and it has long been recognised that in planning matters time is invariably of importance, and indeed good administration, far from surrendering to delay, should seek to avoid it," he said.

Mr Justice Hartmann said planning decisions affect third parties and had a bearing on commercial decisions. "The chief executive in council took into account the fact that, aside from the government, at least one other party, namely, the consortium carrying out the reclamation works, would be affected.

"These issues, in my view, are integral to the determination of the difficult question of whether, to meet the ends of good administration, a plan lawfully passed, and believed still to be lawful, should nevertheless be suspended."

While Mr Justice Hartmann refused to be drawn into judging the merits of the reclamation work, he said: "It may well have been preferable to remit the plan [to the board], at least regarding the extent of reclamation."

4. Response strong for URA project in Tsuen Wan
ERNEST KONG, SCMP 10 March 2004

Twenty-two developers and contractors have told the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) they are interested in the agency's project in Tsuen Wan, a 77,824 square foot site for residential and commercial development.

The robust response to the project comes amid strengthening confidence in property and as the government refrains from overburdening the market with too much additional land supply.

Expressing interest were major players such as Cheung Kong (Holdings), Sun Hung Kai Properties, New World Development, Sino Land, Hang Lung Properties and Henderson Land.

But also eyeing a piece of the action were small developers and contractors who have been quiet in the Hong Kong market in recent years such as SEA Holdings and China Overseas.

On Monday, 32 developers and contractors said they were interested in a URA site in Wan Chai, expected to provide more than 300 residential units by 2007.

Surveyors said the good response to the two sites reflected strong demand for urban projects among developers.

The government wants the 77,824 sq ft site to be linked to the Tsuen Wan Town Centre project started by the former Land Development Corporation.

The URA earlier estimated that about 365,000 sq ft of residential space could be generated from the project.

But an agency spokesman yesterday said the amount of residential space might be increased after the site's land use designation was changed.

"The amount of commercial and residential space has not been decided yet. We have to discuss it with interested developers," the spokesman said.

Developers would also need to set aside space for government facilities, he said.

Centaline Surveyors managing director Victor Lai estimated the project's accommodation value at about $1,800 per square foot. He put the cost for acquiring the site at about $900 million.

Completed residential units are expected to fetch an average of $4,000 per square foot.

But the winner of the tender may pay less if profits from the property sales are split with the URA.

"The project is subject to a lot of changes, as government is only inviting expressions of interest at this stage. Most of the features will be confirmed when the project is open for tender," Mr Lai said.

He added that the site's proximity to a West Rail station would make it attractive to developers. "The secondary market in Tsuen Wan has been pretty upbeat recently. Some properties that were built more than five years ago are selling at an average price of more than $3,000 per square foot."