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1. Winds of cultural change blow

2. Buildings chief 'made errors in land grant'

3. KCR to replace air cons with more efficient cooling system

4. $9b anti-flooding project for NT to be finished soon

1. Winds of cultural change blow
Leslie Kwoh, The Standard 27 March 2006

Sunday's rain and winds had many Hong Kongers running for cover but they failed to deter the more than 100 politicians and activists who attended an outdoor forum to share their visions for the government's suspended West Kowloon Cultural District project.

"I'm quite pleased with the turnout, and there was a lot of diversity in the ideas," said Wan Chai District Council chairman Ada Wong, who is also a core member of the People's Panel, which organized the "Reinvent West Kowloon" workshop.

"This is the first step, to allow everyone to contribute their ideas. Next, we will discuss more in-depth which options are actually feasible."

Some participants suggested building attractions with children's themes such as Ferris wheels, puppet galleries and go-kart tracks.

Others recommended paying more attention to landscaping details such as public furniture, artistic sculptures and fountains.

In general, participants agreed most of the site should be devoted to the creation of a green park, supplemented by low-density recreational and cultural facilities such as museums, bookstores, theaters and art galleries.

The government's original plans, scrapped late last month because the three short-listed developers failed to respond positively to the modified development parameters and conditions set out last October, included an elaborate 40-story tall glass canopy over the area.

"This is the first time I have visited the site, but my suggestion is to keep it simple," said Mau Chi-wang, also a core member of the panel.

"I recently came back from Sydney and I think we should build a big opera house or museum next to a large garden. I think the garden would help the public feel at ease."

Incidentally, Sydney, famed for its Opera House, recently scrapped plans to build another iconic monument in favor of creating an 11-hectare headland park, which would restore public access to the waterfront at Millers Point for the first time in nearly 100 years.

Participants at the forum also expressed concern about the government's apparent eagerness to rush the project into completion.

"Where else in Hong Kong can you sit outside like this and enjoy a view of the harbor?" said Paul Zimmerman, convenor of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District, who suggested starting off with a green park and then "filling in bit by bit."

Vice president of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects Vincent Ng agreed, insisting that from an architect's point of of view a gradual approach would be more practical.

"The market for arts and culture in Hong Kong is not that big, so I suggest going slowly so we don't overbuild the area," he said.

Funding for the project, originally estimated to cost HK$40 billion, could be aided by inviting the public to donate benches, fountains and public furniture, suggested one woman, who preferred to remain anonymous.

Home Affairs Bureau principal assistant secretary Vincent Fong said he would do his best to "play a listening role" and bring back any "interesting ideas" to the government.

He also admitted that while the government's proposals were "not perfect," they were backed by rationale.

The government has announced it will set up a consultative committee to gather expert views and public opinions. However, the start date has yet to be announced.

he People's Panel plans to continue collecting public input, which it intends to compile into a report and present to the government in September.

2. Buildings chief 'made errors in land grant'
CHLOE LAI , SCMP 27 March 2006

Grand Promenade

Former buildings chief Leung Chin-man committed procedural errors in granting bonus land to Henderson Land for its Grand Promenade project, an independent panel investigating the incident has found.

The three-member panel found Mr Leung failed to follow internal guidelines issued by the Buildings Department in September 2000 governing the Building Authority's exercise of discretionary power, the South China Morning Post has learned.

Mr Leung did not give enough consideration to at least two factors listed in the guidelines: the views of other government departments and the effect of the development on adjoining sites and the district.

The panel, appointed by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, also found Mr Leung disregarded Lands Department advice that the granting of bonus land for a public transport terminal at the site would cause a significant loss in revenue. It questioned Mr Leung's decision to invite two observers to sit in on a Building Authority conference on August 1, 2001, despite the absence of established procedures for such action.

Two architecture academics - Patrick Lau Sau-shing and Alex Lui Chun-wan - were given an unprecedented invitation to attend the meeting and gave views on whether the Building Authority should exclude the terminal from the calculation of the development's gross floor area.

Both the Planning and Lands departments had objected during the meeting to excluding the terminal from the calculation. A chief building surveyor from the Buildings Department also told the meeting it was normal department practice to count such a facility as part of the gross floor area.

But Mr Lui said the developer might be confused over whether the terminal should be included in the gross floor area as this was not stated in the lease, so it should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Lands officials critical of the concession to the developer's application were not invited to the meeting on October 10, 2001, at which Mr Leung decided to accept Henderson Land's argument.

The investigation was launched in December after an Audit Commission report criticised Mr Leung's handling of the project. It said the granting of bonus land, together with the Planning Department's failure to stipulate a maximum gross floor area in the land lease, allowed the developer to double the number of flats built at the waterfront site in Sai Wan Ho. As a result, Henderson reaped an estimated $3.2 billion windfall from the project and the government was denied $125 million in land premium.

Mr Leung headed the Buildings Department between August 1999 and June 2002.

Industry sources said they expected the panel to suggest some remedies to the system for handling land and property development.

The government announced a series of changes last month, including the way Building Authority conferences are conducted, after the Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee criticised the government and Mr Leung over the controversy.

The panel, headed by Mr Justice Barry Mortimer, will submit its report to the chief executive this week. The committee was given the task of examining the procedures for approving the extra floor space at the development. The question of disciplinary action was not included in the panel's remit.

The report may not be made public soon because Mr Leung is challenging the auditor's report in a judicial review. The government said legal opinion would be sought before publishing the report.

3. KCR to replace air cons with more efficient cooling system
ANITA LAM , SCMP 27 March 2006

Air conditioning will become a thing of the past at KCRC stations as a more cost-efficient, environmentally friendly cooling system is introduced.

The new system costs just 40 per cent that of the air-con system and saves up to two-thirds of the electricity, the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation's acting general manager, Fung Wing-yiu, said. However, he warned the public not to expect very cold air.

"The temperature inside the station will be three to four degrees lower than that of the outside, so if the mercury rises to 36 or 37 degrees Celsius, the temperature inside the station will be around 32 to 33 degrees," he said.

That might sound intolerable to some, but Mr Fung said it was not as hot as they might imagine.

"We first introduced this system in Tai Wai station two years ago and so far we have not received any complaints about the temperature."

Mr Fung said the system processed hot air from outside and turned It into a cooler breeze, so passengers felt comfortable when they stepped into the station.

The power-saving cooling system will be installed in all new stations and will also replace the air-con system in existing stations when the need arises.

The spot-cooling system is part of a $138 million renovation project at Sheung Shui station, an interchange stop between the East Rail and the Lok Ma Chau spur line due to open next year.

The renovated main lobby, which came into service in late January, was extended by 3,500 square metres, enough to cater for a daily rise in passenger turnover from 180,000 to 250,000.

The northbound platform of the station was also doubled in size as a contingency crowd-control measure.

"If the Lowu control point was overcrowded or in case of any emergency, we can make an early broadcast to remind passengers in transit at Sheung Shui station about the new Lok Ma Chau border instead," Mr Fung said.

Renovation of platforms in Lowu and Tai Po stations will follow, to streamline the railway's overall capacity in handling passengers.

he new extended lobby contains 12 more turnstiles, three additional ticketing machines and four more shops. It now handles 20,000 to 22,000 passengers a day, comprising 10 per cent of the station's daily turnover.

4. $9b anti-flooding project for NT to be finished soon
QUINTON CHAN, SCMP 27 March 2006

Serious flooding in the New Territories should be a thing of the past once major drainage works in a $9.2 billion programme are completed later this year.

The Drainage Services Department says rural areas should then be able withstand major downpours of a magnitude seen only once in 50 years.

These produce floods after more than 190mm of rain falls in two hours, more than 2-1/2 times the 70mm in two hours that triggers a black rainstorm signal, the highest on the government scale.

"We will not see on our TV screens from now on a sea of floods in the New Territories," the department's technical secretary, Robin Lee Kui-biu, said. "There could still be some localised floods in villages but their scale will not be so big anymore."

Work on the flood-prevention scheme, which includes the realignment and regulation of the Shenzhen River for the entire length of the border, began in 1993. Mr Lee said that the regulation of the final 4km stretch from Lowu to the Ping Yuen River would be completed before the end of this year.

River regulation in the San Tin area would be completed soon, removing the threat at Ta Kwu Ling, one of the last flooding black spots along the border area.

Other vulnerable areas, such as Ho Sheung Heung, Lowu and Tin Ping Shan Tsuen, have been protected for several years.

"We have dealt with all main rivers and channels in the downstream area of the New Territories," Mr Lee said.

"The remaining works are mainly small rivers or tributaries only eight or 10 metres wide in the upstream area. This will take a few more years to complete."

Most large rivers in the New Territories, such as the Indus and Beas rivers in Sheung Shui, and the Shan Pui in Yuen Long, have also been regulated.

Mr Lee said there were just two flooding black spots left in the New Territories, compared with six in 2002. These were Kau Lung Hang and Lam Tsuen Valley in Tai Po. The number of minor flood-prone areas had also fallen, from 59 in 2002 to 36 this year.

The size of flood-prone areas in the New Territories fell from 1,370 hectares in 2002 to 820 hectares last year.

The official said that so far, 31 drainage works had been completed under the decade-long flood-prevention programme.

In total, 68km of rivers and drains had been regulated or improved.