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1. Cuts in red tape to hasten building repairs

2. Bridge to lift delta economy by $110b

1. Cuts in red tape to hasten building repairs
CHOW CHUNG-YAN, SCMP 23 April 2003

The government plans to allow small contractors to take over simple building works in a move to help flat owners improve their living environment in the wake of the Sars outbreak.

Building owners now must first gain the Building Department's permission for any building works, ranging from changing the sewerage pipes to installing signboards. Director of Buildings Marco Wu Moon-hoi yesterday said officials were ready to let owners hire small contractors to carry out minor works.

The small contractors still have to register with the government and some work must be done under the supervision of an authorised professional.

Mr Wu said the move was aimed at encouraging owners to carry out building maintenance and improvement works.

The new policy would help reduce the waiting time and costs for the owners.

Mr Wu estimated that about 5,000 small contractors would register with the government in the coming year. He hoped the plan would help improve living environments throughout the city.

Meanwhile, the director warned that owners must make sure their buildings had functioning U-shaped water-trap pipes installed in the sewerage system.

Faulty U-shaped pipes were blamed for the spread of the Sars virus at the Amoy Gardens estate, where hundreds of residents were infected, according to a government report released last week.

The report said that at Amoy Gardens, once the virus entered the waste pipes, droplets that carried it moved up through residents' bathroom drains when the U-shaped water seals failed to keep them out.

The report aroused widespread concern over the possibility of a repeat of the Amoy Gardens experience. Of added concern is that many older buildings do not have U-shaped water-trap pipes to keep out potentially disease-carrying droplets.

Mr Wu said officials would contact owners' corporations and private building management companies to ensure the drainage system of their buildings was safe and met hygiene requirements.

He said the task of officials was complicated by the fact that about 10,000 buildings in Hong Kong had no owners' corporation or private management company.

The department would send staff to inspect these buildings and remind owners of their responsibilities.

"We will inform them that they need to install the U-shaped pipes if they don't have one in place," Mr Wu said. "If they do not listen, we will carry out actions on their behalf and then ask them to pay."

The department received 574 reports about defective drains last year and 105 reports in the first two months of this year.

2. Bridge to lift delta economy by $110b
GARY CHEUNG, SCMP 23 April 2003

The completion of a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai will produce up to an extra $110 billion in economic output for the special administrative region and the west side of the Pearl River Delta, a study has found.

The study by Chinese University professors Tuan Chyau and Linda Ng Fung-yee estimated that Hong Kong's economy would grow an extra 1.36 to 1.66 percentage points in 2008, one year after the bridge opened. The estimates are based on the assumption that the project will start by next year and will be completed in 2007.

Hong Kong's gross domestic product was $1.27 trillion last year. An extra 1.66 percentage points of growth would translate into an extra $21.1 billion in economic output.

Professor Tuan, of the Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, said the gross domestic product (GDP) of the cities on the west side of the delta would increase by between 64.6 billion yuan (HK$60.8 billion) and 94.6 billion yuan (HK$89.1 billion) in the first year after the bridge is completed.

There are six cities on the west side of the delta - Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Foshan, Shunde and Shaoqing.

These cities would see an influx of foreign capital after the opening of the bridge, which would drastically cut the time spent on travelling between the west side of the delta and Hong Kong.

"On average, the economies of the six delta cities will grow by an extra 20 per cent in the first year after the bridge is opened, with Zhuhai's gross domestic product increasing by up to 30 per cent," Professor Tuan said.

Zhongshan's economy is estimated to grow an extra 18.8 per cent in that period.

The findings, expected to be published next week, were based on the correlation between travelling time and the influx of direct foreign investment. The information was provided by about 37,000 foreign enterprises in the delta, of which 80 per cent are owned by Hong Kong-based companies.

Professor Tuan said he had submitted a copy of the study to Secretary for Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung.

"The economic gains brought by the bridge will be several times the estimated construction cost," he said. "We hope our study can help convince Guangdong authorities to support the project."

The estimated cost of the Y-shaped bridge, proposed by Hopewell Holdings, is about $15 billion.

Professor Tuan estimated that about 5,100 foreign enterprises, most Hong Kong-based companies, would invest on the west side of the delta after the bridge opened. "Foreign companies in the delta currently hire an average of five Hong Kong employees.

"It means about 25,000 jobs for the people of Hong Kong on the west side of the delta," Professor Tuan said.

The professor estimated that more than 100 foreign firms would set up their regional headquarters in Hong Kong as a springboard to invest on the west side of the delta.

The new headquarters will create more than 4,600 jobs in the city.

Professor Tuan said the central government would be more proactive in pushing the project following the atypical pneumonia outbreak because the Chinese leadership wished to revitalise Hong Kong's economy.