1 Third runway fails to lift legislators
Nishika Patel, The Standard 18 March 2008
Construction of a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport will be meaningless as the SAR's airspace is restricted, several lawmakers say.
The need for an extra runway was questioned at a Legislative Council panel meeting yesterday, with legislators saying the SAR's air space could not be expanded due to its proximity to airports in Macau, Zhuhai and Shenzhen.
The comments came after a United Kingdom air traffic body presented a report on ways to boost local runway space. It said air movements could be increased from the current 54 movements per hour to 68 per hour by 2015 through changes to the airfield's infrastructure and operations.
"With a third runway, the air space will still be limited," said Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong, who represents the import and export sector.
"We cannot increase the movements to 100 or 120. So what's the purpose of building a third runway?"
Wong added that with the growing aviation industry, other cities in Guangdong would seek to expand their aviation links, which would further trim air space in the Pearl River Delta.
"Even if we build a third runway, we are still competing with one another," Wong said.
Ronny Tong Ka-wah, of the Civic Party, echoed concerns about pumping money into a third runway when air capacity would remain a problem.
Norman Lo Shung-man, director general of civil aviation, responded by saying the government was in the final stages of approving uniform procedures with the mainland and Macau airports, which would increase capacity.
The Airport Authority will conduct an engineering and environmental feasibility study on building the third runway, he said.
A member of Britain's National Air Traffic Services told the panel that Hong Kong was in a unique, complex position as its air space was constrained due to unfavorable terrain in the northeast, Macau in the west and Lantau to the south.
2 Lawmakers wary of Ocean Park hotels plan
Nishika Patel The Standard 18 March 2008
Lawmakers have expressed doubts over Ocean Park's plans to stimulate the economy of Southern District through its hotel projects.
But the park's chairman, Allan Zeman, said the construction of three hotels at the theme park would kick-start an economic revival of the old area.
During a meeting of the Legislative Council's economic development panel yesterday, Zeman was quizzed whether tourists at the hotels would venture out to the district to spend their money. One lawmaker said traffic congestion would discourage them.
But Zeman said the government's revamp of Fisherman's Wharf and Aberdeen along with Ocean Park's hotel plans would trigger other private individuals to invest in the area.
He said developers had already applied for land in the area.
Under the project, three themed hotels with a total of 1,300 rooms would be built by 2011, bringing 36,800 extra visitors to the park in its first year.
According to a traffic assessment study, the South District Line, due to be completed in 2015, will ease congestion by linking to the park.
Subject to town planning approval, Ocean Park will start the tender process for the hotels by the end of the year.
3 Ocean Park predicts tourists will bring in bulk of revenue by 2017
Dennis Eng, SCMP 18 March 2008
Ocean Park says it expects to receive twice as many mainland and overseas visitors as it does locals in a decade.
The split now is roughly 50 per cent locals and 50 per cent mainland and overseas guests. Attendance at Ocean Park jumped 13.2 per cent year on year from 4.38 million to 4.96 million for the 2006-07 financial year, its most successful.
Chief executive Tom Mehrmann told lawmakers yesterday: "Of nearly 5 million people this past year, it's split between 2.5 million and 2.5 million. We foresee that in the future, we'll continue penetrating about 2.5 million local guests. The growth will be in mainland visitation and also the FITs [free independent tourists] coming from Southeast Asia and other locations.
"We suspect by the end of the development in 2012, it may be a roughly 60-40 split, 60 per cent being other than local. If we project all the way out to 2017 or 2020, that could actually evolve to about a 70-30 split, which means you're going to see more FITs and more groups."
Mr Mehrmann was addressing a meeting of the Legislative Council's economic development panel.
Ocean Park has forecast 5.8 million visitors by 2012-13, when its six-year HK$5.5 billion redevelopment is due to be completed. The work will more than double the number of attractions from the existing 35 and include an underground funicular railway.
There will also be three new hotels, but they are not included in the HK$5.5 billion plan. The hotels offer a total of about 1,300 rooms and it is estimated they will bring in an additional 36,800 visits in the first year of operation.
Ocean Park chairman Allan Zeman played down concerns of lawmakers the hotels would add to traffic congestion in the area. He said the hotels would target mainly family tourists with some corporate and convention business.
The funicular railway will join the existing cable car system in providing transport between the lowland and headland areas of the park. Running just over 1.6km long, the three-minute railway ride will move 10,000 people an hour, about three times the 3,600 passengers the cable car can handle.
Mr Mehrmann said there would be a protected walkway within the tunnel for evacuation purposes. Passengers could escape at either end of the tunnel or via an attic located halfway in the tunnel, he said.
4 Change of Independent Non-executive Directors
MTR Press Release, 18 March 2008
The MTR Corporation announced today that Mr David Eldon has tendered his resignation as an independent non-executive Director of the Corporation with effect from the conclusion of the 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Corporation, and that Mr Lo Chung-hing will retire as an independent non-executive Director of the Corporation by rotation at the 2008 Annual General Meeting and will not offer himself for re-election.
Mr Eldon and Mr Lo have been Directors of the Corporation since 1999 and 1995 respectively. Dr Raymond Ch’ien, Chairman of the Corporation, thanks Mr Eldon and Mr Lo for their significant contributions and long service to the Corporation.
