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1. Harbour reclamation `will create Victoria River'

2. Public projects worth $2.5b to go to private sector

1. Harbour reclamation `will create Victoria River'
Keith Wallis, The Standard 8 April 2003

Officials have a duty to protect and preserve the harbour as an asset and a key part of heritage when considering whether to reclaim land from the sea along the waterfront.

While the harbour protection ordinance was a wake-up call that this should happen, the ``government and the Town Planning Board haven't woken up yet,'' Anthony Neoh, SC, said.

He was speaking yesterday during the opening of a judicial review the

Society for Protection of the Harbour is seeking against the Town Planning Board which approved plans for the second phase of the Wan Chai reclamation. The society, headed by lawyer Winston Chu, and Christine Loh, head of the public policy think-tank, Civic Exchange, is challenging the legality of the board's approval of the draft zoning plan for the reclamation. The move is seen as a test-case that will determine the future of waterfront reclamation projects.

The society's main objections are based on plans to build a four hectare harbour park as part of a breakwater offshore from Causeway Bay and a 64-metre high extension to the convention centre. Development of the extension will mean other facilities, including an indoor games hall, will have to be relocated to other areas of the 26-hectare reclamation.

Both of these elements of the reclamation have been opposed by district council members, legislators, environmentalists and other individuals who have lodged thousands of objections.

Opening the society's case in front of Madam Justice Carlye Chu, Neoh said the ``Town Planning Board has not complied with the law. It has not applied the proper standards in the formulation of the layout plans''.

Quoting Winston Chu's affirmation, Neoh said the Wan Chai project would increase air pollution by generating increased traffic, damage the marine ecology, narrow the harbour, posing a danger to shipping, and damage Hong Kong's international image. ``Victoria Harbour would become Victoria River,'' he said.

Neoh said the ordinance made it a legal requirement that government officials have a presumption against reclamation except for essential public infrastructure. This means that ``public officers must have a higher calling to displace this presumption. It has got to be something so important that something natural will be replaced by something artificial.''

He added officials had a ``duty to protect and preserve, not to destroy it so it can be enhanced to produce an artificial amenity. I don't see how replacing the harbour with an artificial amenity is preserving the harbour''. Consequently, while this could include reclamation to provide land for additional tunnels for the Airport Express line or the Central-Wan Chai bypass, it does not include infilling the harbour for leisure schemes.

Neoh believed the government's attitude had changed little from when it went ahead with schemes such as the west Kowloon reclamation in the early 1990s. He said there were still plans to reclaim more than 1,000 hectares inside and just outside the harbour limits. He added the board not only acted illegally by approving the draft plan, but also broke its own mission statement ``to bring the harbour to the public and the public to the harbour''.

The case is likely to last until Friday.

2. Public projects worth $2.5b to go to private sector
KLAUDIA LEE, SCMP 8 April 2003

The private sector will be invited to build and operate two leisure and cultural projects in Kowloon as pilot schemes under the government's plan to cut its expenditure.

This is part of a new approach announced by the government in last month's budget in which the private sector is encouraged to provide facilities which in the past had been paid for out of public funds.

The aim - in keeping with the concept of "big market, small government'' - is to stimulate the economy without incurring public expenditure.

The pilot projects - an ice-sports centre in Tseung Kwan O and a leisure and cultural centre in Kwun Tong - will cost an estimated $1 billion. Nine similar ventures estimated to cost a further $1.5 billion will follow if the pilots are successful.

Unveiling the plan yesterday, Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping said the government hoped to save about $1 billion by giving the construction and operation of the two pilot developments to private enterprise.

Under the scheme, the private concerns will be allowed to develop higher-income-generating businesses such as shops to link with the community projects, Dr Ho said.
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"The government's main task is to provide land for them.'' Profit-sharing arrangements with the participating private companies were yet to be determined, he said. If insufficient profits were generated, the companies could derive income from the linked developments.

"The private sector can be more creative, flexible and . . . expedite the delivery of facilities for public use," he said.

A 2.8-hectare ice-skating rink able to accommodate 5,000 spectators will be built on a six-hectare site in Tseung Kwan O. Future plans envisage an ancillary rink of a similar size, a town garden and other complementary facilities. Dr Ho said the ice-skating rink will be the first of its kind in Hong Kong and will be of international standard, able to host major events.

"It could also raise people's interest in this sport and provide a venue for them to practise," he said.

The second pilot project, a leisure and cultural centre in Kwun Tong, will be built on a 2.2-hectare site at the junction of Tsui Ping Road and Lei Yue Mun Road. The centre will have a bowling centre with at least 40 lanes, a civic centre and an all-season indoor swimming pool complex. This will replace the existing Kwun Tong swimming pool.

Besides the public facilities, private developers could build commercial add-ons, such as shopping malls, cinemas, hotels and private clubs, he said.

Dr Ho said invitations for possible developers would be issued in the coming months. The facilities could be operational in four years.

He said a monitoring mechanism would ensure the quality of service and fair usage charges.

"Our principle is that the admission charges of the new facilities would not deviate too much from the existing level," he said.

Lau Ping-cheung, who represents the architecture, surveying and planning sector, welcomed the initiative.

He said not only would the government save money; the private sector, being more sensitive to market needs, could maximise the use of the facilities and provide a diversity of services.

Although it was difficult to estimate developer interest in the projects, Mr Lau said the opportunity to build other, commercial facilities in addition to the community projects would provide more flexibility for the developers. "They can build some profitable projects, such as hotels and clubs, to subsidise the less profitable ones," Mr Lau said.

Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has said the major cause of the deficit was the rise in public expenditure during the bubble-economy period between 1991 and 1997.