| News Stories: |
 |
Click-on these handy "jump links" to quickly access the news item
you're looking for.
- Pier preservation plans run aground
- Tsang to push on with major projects
- Fly-tipping of building materials on the rise
- Four options to save Queen's Pier
1. Pier preservation plans run aground
Tonny Chan, The Standard 27 March 2007
 
Queen's Pier should best be disassembled and rebuilt close to its existing site to enable reclamation off the Central waterfront to proceed, the government said Monday.
The message came as lawmakers prepare today to discuss four alternative government plans to preserve the structure following three meetings held with representatives of professional bodies such as the Hong Kong Institute of Architects and the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers.
According to the latest government document available to the Legislative Council, three of the alternatives call for in-situ preservation of the pier, while the fourth requires the building to be relocated nearby, but away from City Hall.
A government source, however, said they have little confidence in pursuing any of the in-situ preservation options without risking irreversible damage to the pier or important underground facilities such as the Airport Railway Extended Overrun Tunnel to be aligned directly beneath it.
"It isn't only about cost. Our experts aren't confident that preservation can be done in-situ given the risks involved," the source said.
Senior government officials backed by experts will try to convince lawmakers that in-situ preservation should not be considered a serious choice, though it may appear viable on paper, when they attend a meeting of Legco's planning, lands and works panel this afternoon.
According to government submissions made to Legco Monday, in-situ preservation can be achieved by eit her shifting the alignments of the planned infrastructures that will cross the pier, or filling the void beneath it by grouting or rolling the superstructure away from the site temporarily.
Rejecting the options one by one, the government source said it will be impractical to shift alignment of the planned underground facilities, especially the extended overrun tunnel which, according to the source, will have to be a "natural" extension of the existing tracks. Curving the alignment will make it unsafe for trains.
Filling the void underneath the pier with sand or grouting, and building the tunnel and a drainage culvert by the underpinning and tunneling method is also not reasonably practical, the source said. "Setting aside the technical difficulties and the huge risk involved in the works, underpinning for the construction of the extended overrun tunnel would cost about HK$500 million and take more than two years to complete," the source said.
"The other additional works on filling underneath the pier and construction of storm water drainage culvert with underpinning would incur additional construction costs of about HK$65 million and delay the Central Reclamation Phase III contract by at least one year."
He said though it may appear viable to roll the superstructure, including the roof and columns, away for construction of the underground infrastructure and roll it back to its original site upon its completion, it remains technically doubtful that the roof, which is only 15 centimeters to 18cm thick, will be strong enough to sustain the movement.
This rolling method, he added, will also require the Road P2 network to be shifted away from its statutory path, and result in a potential delay of the Central reclamation work by 3 years.
The source said that as far as the government can see, it would be more practical to disassemble the pier and store its parts for reassembling in the adjacent open space outside City Hall or at a location, subject to public consultation.
"This is technically feasible, and would result in a four-month delay to the Central Reclamation Phase III contract," the source said.
"The reassembling of the pier structure would cost about HK$10 million more, whereas the overall cost estimate for this option [disassembling and reassembling] is in the order of HK$50 million."
Antiquities Advisory Board member Greg Wong Chak-yan agreed it would be acceptable to disassemble and reassemble Queen's Pier in the open space off City Hall, saying this could balance the needs for development and conservation.
2. Tsang to push on with major projects
Timothy Chui, The Standard 27 March 2007
Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's fresh five- year mandate as chief executive has given him the resolve to push ahead with key projects like the West Kowloon cultural hub and Kai Tak's redevelopment, analysts said.
In addition to seeing the projects through, there are also hopes for new and greater employment opportunities.
"I think Tsang now has full confidence with his victory, and with his pledge on constitutional reviews, green papers and his ambition to be the greatest chief executive, he'll try to leave his mark on modern Hong Kong history," said James Sung Lap-kung, a political analyst with the City University of Hong Kong.
He said reducing unemployment and fostering greater participation between corporations and nongovernmental organizations to help the underprivileged are also important steps in cementing Tsang's legacy. Additionally, Sung said, the fact that the government is cash rich has left him in little doubt that, within five years, Hong Kong will be very different.
Pledging an unemployment rate of 2 percent within five years, job creation - a top priority for Tsang - will be tackled with the construction of major capital works projects in and around the territory, Sung said.
"Taking into account Donald's previous speeches on job creation, and even during Tung Chee-hwa's term, job creation depends to a large extent on physical projects such as airports and highways," he said.
The HK$29 billion appropriated for the current fiscal year and previous sums set aside annually for physical projects was a healthy indication that the government had no plans to change its record of large public projects in and around the territory, Sung said.
But plans do change, as is the case with the Tamar site. Pending the results of an eight-month urban-design study and public consultation expected in June this year, questions over the ratios of open space, the shape and size of the new government headquarters and a lack of consensus over the building use mix have kept the project on the drawing board for the past nine months.
The disputed Central waterfront site could realize about 3,000 construction jobs, Sung said.
Executive councillor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said Tsang may have to pick up his heels over public works projects due to pressure from trade unions, engineers and professionals.
"There are a lot of people from the construction industry who are concerned with the lack of public works projects in the pipeline," he said.
The central government's Christmas present to the territory - to keep Hong Kong's status as the premier financial center of China untouched - has given Tsang more reasons to go ahead with infrastructure projects.
Anticipating full-speed development of infrastructure to unleash the territory's trade potential, such as a high-speed train to Guangdong , expansion of Hong Kong International Airport , initiatives for greater cross-border trade and listings of mainland companies in Hong Kong , Sung believed Tsang's fresh mandate would do little to slow down the incumbent leader. Infrastructure projects would be favored over tourism and cultural project development as the former proved more robust, according to Sung.
"If you look at the GDP percentages, contributions from tourism and the creativity industry aren't so big," he said. "The industries are also very sensitive to all sorts of threats."
The Kowloon West Cultural District project - born out of concerns that the territory lacks cultural venues - has also run into problems of design and distribution, but chiefly over funding for the facilities, Cheung said.
Cheung believes that, ultimately, funding will be provided by the legislative body. If funding could be secured and combined with broader public involvement in planning, he believes the project will not continue to drag on.
Pressure from interest groups and delays to actual construction prompted Tsang to consider forming a development bureau to streamline projects and deal with controversy over planning.
Despite the potential number of construction-related jobs to be generated by major public works projects, Cheung believed there was no guarantee these alone would reduce unemployment to a mere 2 percent.
3. Fly-tipping of building materials on the rise
Timothy Chui, The Standard 27 March 2007
Despite favorable results in its first year of operation, legislators expressed concern at the increasing number of cheats trying to work their way around the Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme.
According to the Environment Protection Department, the amount of construction waste dumped in landfills fell by 40 percent from 6,600 tonnes per day in 2005 before the scheme was introduced to around 4,000 tonnes per day last year.
However, the number of detected fly-tipping of spent building materials increased by more then 400 percent from 365 cases in 2005, to 1,587 last year.
The EPD, after mounting 5,000 regular inspections and ambushes at known illegal dumping sites, has only been able to convict six people with illegal dumping with another six receiving fixed penalties.
Explaining the exceptionally low enforcement rate, EPD Environmental Infrastructure assistant director Ellen Chan Ting-lung told the Legislative Council's environmental affairs panel that in order to prosecute successfully, the department needed to catch the culprits red-handed.
"You must have concrete proof, and [illegal dumping reporting] is quite difficult in terms of the burden of proof, it is no easy task," she said.
The department is currently forming a construction waste fly-tipping spotting system to encourage people to report illegal dumping activities.
But spotters, working on a voluntary basis, would have to make reports in addition to providing testimony in court which, according to at least one legislator, is fraught with danger.
Although the scheme has yet to be finalized, the department is expecting the program to be launched by the middle of the year.
Legislator Choy So-yuk pressed the EPD to find a more sensible and effective means of reporting illegal dumping, saying the EPD "has to identify something more straightforward. For example, I have a picture with a date and license number, but if you ask people to risk their lives to appear on TV and in court, they will be reluctant."
The EPD also reported about 350 vehicle loads of construction waste, disguised as regular municipal solid waste, were caught by inspections at landfills during the first year of the scheme. The EPD has issued 26 written and 104 verbal warnings during checks at landfills, Chan said.
Under the scheme, which came into effect on January 20, 2006, the EDP levies a charge depending on the mix of reusable materials, such as metals, plastics and earth, in loads dumped at local landfills.
The charges are lower for loads consisting entirely of inert construction waste such as soil, rocks and concrete at HK$27 per tonne, while mixed loads cost HK$125 per tonne for disposal.
As of December 2006, the scheme has generated HK$55 million.
4. Four options to save Queen's Pier
AUDREY PARWANI, SCMP 27 March 2007
In its paper to be presented today to Legco's planning, lands and works panel, the government lists four options for Queen's Pier, drawn up after consultation with organisations including the Hong Kong Institute of Architects and Hong Kong Institute of Engineers.
Three of the options have been dismissed as unfeasible for reasons of costs or delay. The technical constraints lie in the fact that three infrastructures - the eight-lane P2 carriageway, an MTR extension and a drainage system - depend on the demolition of Queen's Pier, a government spokesman said.
The three options all involve preserving Queen's Pier on its original site and incur delays that will cost "hundreds of millions" of dollars.
The first of these "in situ" options involves "shifting planned infrastructure", which the government claims will make plans for an MTR turnaround tunnel impossible. The effect of this on Phase III of the Harbour Reclamation Plan would be "major" and costs other than those caused by the delay "cannot be estimated".
The second, "preservation by filling pier with sand/grouting" to secure its foundations", would delay Phase III for three years, with extra costs reaching HK$565 million, the most expensive of the four options.
The third option involves removing the top of the structure and then replacing this after the infrastructure works have been completed over the pier's foundations. This would delay Phase III for 3-1/2 years and incur extra costs of HK$130 million.
The government claims the fourth option - dismantling Queen's Pier piece by piece and rebuilding it at another site - would be the only feasible one as it would cost only HK$50 million and delay the MTR extension by only four months.
Vincent Ng Wing-shun, a former vice-president of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, said: "The institute has drawn up plans which involve moving P2 northwards by only a matter of tens of metres. Once that is done, nothing else is really affected.
"All the government has done is to delay things rather than really trying to improve the situation."
|
