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1. Plan to delist penny stocks withdrawn

2. Tycoon's high hopes may be thwarted

3. Stanley waterfront to get $90m facelift in drive to woo tourists

4. Battle for Wan Chai Market looms

5. Design where form follows function

6. Cyberport hotel lets its guests cut loose

7. Canadian mules set for cable car donkey work

1. Plan to delist penny stocks withdrawn
ENOCH YIU, SCMP 20 April 2004

The stock exchange listing committee has scrapped controversial plans to delist companies with low share prices, finally laying to rest to the penny stock fiasco that erupted two years ago.

A listing committee member told the South China Morning Post last night that the exchange would not proceed with the plan to remove a company from listing just because it was trading at a price deemed too low.

"There are far too many companies, about 300 to 400, trading at a price falling into the definition of penny stocks," the committee member said. "The exchange could not introduce a plan that would lead to almost half of all companies disappearing from the market.

"The exchange could not face so many enemies at the same time. It is a sensible move to let the firms continue to list, regardless of their share price."

Another committee member said the decision would not hurt investors.

"Just because a company is trading at a low price does not mean it is no good," he said.

The exchange will continue with the current delisting rule, which sees a company removed from listing if its shares have been suspended for 18 months and it has no business operations.

In July 2002, the exchange launched a consultation paper looking at whether penny stocks - those companies trading below 50 cents for 30 days - should be delisted.

A day after the paper was issued, investors rushed to dump the more than 300 penny stocks, causing the local market's capitalisation to fall by $10 billion in a single day. The exchange was forced to withdraw the consultation four days later and issued a new paper without the delisting threshold in November last year.

The fiasco saw some retail investors lose money and forced Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang to apologise.

The major casualty was then Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) chief executive Kwong Ki-chi. He lost his $7.95 million a year job after resigning for "personal reasons" in November 2002. He left HKEx last April.

The government appointed a two-member committee to review the incident, leading to the appointment of a three-member expert group that proposed giving the HKEx's front-line regulatory role to the Securities and Futures Commission. The government abandoned that plan last month.

2. Tycoon's high hopes may be thwarted
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 20 April 2004

Hopewell Holdings will have to persuade at least three government departments if it wants to reactivate a decade-old plan to build Hong Kong's tallest skyscraper in Wan Chai.

Hopewell chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung threatened on Friday to take the Town Planning Board to court and reactivate the plan after the board rejected an alternative plan to build a 60-storey twin-tower hotel on the site.

A Planning Department document - issued on February 22 - acknowledges that Hopewell's plan to build a 93-storey hotel tower, which the Town Planning Board approved in January 1994, was still valid. The proposal was also approved by the Buildings Department in May 1994, though no actual work had ever started.

However, the Planning Department says that under the Buildings Ordinance, the Buildings Department can refuse its consent to any works if no actual construction on a project has taken place within two years of its approval.

It is understood that Hopewell has not applied for consent to start construction.

The Planning Department document also says that as the proposed development in 1994 involved widening Kennedy Road, Hopewell must also obtain approval from both the Transport Department and the Highways Departments.

Speaking on RTHK yesterday, Sir Gordon said the single 93-storey building plan was amended to two 60-storey hotel blocks after the September 11 attacks because of strong public demand that buildings should not be excessively tall.

"Hopewell is a profit-making body; I am responsible to the shareholders. Of course, I have to do something," he said, adding he preferred the old plan as it would give Hopewell a landmark hotel and it was financially and technically viable.

Sir Gordon criticised residents who opposed his plan for violating his property rights.

He added that he suspected there were hidden forces behind the protests intended to block his project.

He also criticised the Planning Department for "misleading" the Town Planning Board with advice which he said led it to reject his plan. "Civil servants always bend to pressure whenever protests come," the tycoon said. He did not specify the advice to which he was referring.

Sally Emmerton, a member of the Kennedy Road Protection Group, said residents opposed to the Hopewell project would continue to try to protect the neighbourhood from massive development.

She said she was glad to learn that Hopewell could not reactivate the old development plan without seeking further approval from the relevant government departments involved.

3. Stanley waterfront to get $90m facelift in drive to woo tourists
MARTIN WONG, SCMP 21 April 2004

Nearly $90 million is to be spent beautifying the Stanley waterfront as part of the Tourism Commission's project to strengthen Hong Kong's position as a top tourist destination in Asia.

In a paper to be discussed by Legco's economic services panel next week, the government proposes using $87.5 million to carry out the Stanley Waterfront Improvement Project, covering 14,350 square metres including the Stanley Bay promenade, Murray House and the Shui Sin Temple.

The project is one of the key tourism areas identified by the commission to make the city more attractive and visitor-friendly

"Stanley is one of the most popular tourist districts in Hong Kong and is selected as a priority area for physical enhancement, including construction of a public pier, extension of the promenade to create more open space, improvements to landscaping, street paving, furniture and lighting, signage and information boards," the paper says.

The main work of the project will be the construction of a public pier outside Murray House that will provide berthing for leisure and tour service vessels. This alone will cost about $30 million.

"To ensure the design of the pier will blend with the architecture of Murray House, we will relocate the Old Blake Pier roof in Morse Park [in Lok Fu] with similar architectural style and historical value, to Stanley," the paper says.

"The proposal will not only put the roof back to its original use but will also bring out its heritage value."

The government added that it had already consulted with and obtained the nod from the Southern District Council, the Tourism Council and the Wong Tai Sin District Council for the project, which will start this year and finish in 2007.

The director of environmental protection has also approved the Stanley project, which now awaits Legco approval.

Other projects suggested by the Tourism Commission to enhance the attractiveness of the city include the Peak Improvement Project, the Tung Chung Cable Car Project and Disneyland.

Last year, a government study proposed that main tourist spots along Victoria Harbour should be connected with water buses to Aberdeen and Stanley, where other attractions were located.

4. Battle for Wan Chai Market looms
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 21 April 2004

Architects are planning a campaign to save the Wan Chai Market, a piece of rare 1930s architecture, which is to be pulled down by property tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung.

The Hong Kong Institute of Architects said it did not want the market replaced with just another commercial and residential block. Architects said the three-storey building at the corner of Wan Chai Road and Queen's Road East is historically significant and is believed to be one of only two well preserved markets in the Bauhaus style left in the world.

But the campaigners admit they face an uphill battle, as both the Antiquities and Monuments Office and the Town Planning Board have already endorsed the demolition in 2006 to make way for a 46-storey tower. Bernard Lim Wan-fung, a spokesman for the institute, said: "It is such a shame. People are tasteless. When it is a piece of classical architecture, such as the Legislative Council Building, everyone says it is pretty and has to be preserved. But when it comes to Bauhaus, they don't know how to appreciate it."

The institute has not decided on actions to save the market, but Mr Lim said members were being consulted.

The redevelopment of the Wan Chai Market, built in 1937, was first planned by the then Land Development Corporation in 1991. In 1997, the corporation sold the project to Chinese Estates Holdings, of which Mr Lau is chairman. The tycoon will have to build another market nearby as part of the deal.

The project was approved by the Town Planning Board in February, with the consent of the Antiquities and Monuments Office. Mr Lim, who teaches architecture at the Chinese University, questioned why the redevelopment had been approved. He said the only other Bauhaus market as well preserved as the Wan Chai Market is in Phnom Penh.

A spokeswoman for the Antiquities and Monuments Office said the status of the market was reviewed last month but it was decided the demolition could proceed. She said the office tried to persuade Chinese Estates to preserve the building, but the proposal was rejected.

Architect Chris Law, chairman of the Centre for Community Renewal, said: "The architecture of the market is rare ... It would be such a waste if it is pulled down."

Ng Mee-kam, associate professor from the University of Hong Kong's centre of urban planning and environmental management, said: "I hope [Chinese Estates] can embrace corporate social responsibility and see itself more as a community builder, rather than merely a profit-driven developer."

5. Design where form follows function
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 21 April 2004

The Bauhaus School was founded by architect Walter Gropius in 1919 in Germany. Its philosophy emphasised the functionality of architecture and was based on a correlation between design, industry and science. In German, Bauhaus means build (bauen) house (haus).

Architect Chris Law, chairman of the Centre for Community Renewal, said: "There is a saying that form follows function. This is what Bauhaus architecture is about."

Mr Law said the style dominated Germany in the 1920s. It then spread to Britain and the United States as the school was shut down by the Nazis in 1933 and its members were forced to flee.

6. Cyberport hotel lets its guests cut loose
SOPHIE TAYLOR, SCMP 21 April 2004

Le Meridien Cyberport opened yesterday, billing itself as the first hotel in Hong Kong to offer total wireless broadband access - even in the lifts.

The high bandwidth access is said to be foolproof.

But such advanced offerings come at a price. Opening rates start at $1,250 for the so-called "smart" - that is, cheapest - rooms.

Each of the 173 guestrooms is equipped with a 106cm plasma-screen television. Pricier rooms cost $3,200 a night and a suite with a butler on 24-hour duty will set you back $6,800.

The most expensive room, the Premier Bayside Suite, costs more than $9,000, and features an all-glass bathroom which can go from transparent to see-through at the flick of a switch.

Bookings are already flooding in - the occupancy rate has already hit 100 per cent for May, most of the advance bookings coming from business travellers visiting Hong Kong's Cyberport. The building - designed by architects Arquitectonica - is the Meridien Group's Asian showcase for its "Art and Tech" concept. There is not a carpet in sight in the high-ceilinged, glossy lobby.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen.

Also attending were PCCW Deputy Chairman Jack So Chak-kwong, and John Strickland, the chairman of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management.

"Just as Cyberport itself represents the Hong Kong government's vision for Hong Kong as a regional centre for innovation through technology, so too does Le Meridien see this as our showcase within Asia for a new breed of hotel in which the cultural sophistication of a world-class city is married with the very latest in technology," said Michael Sagild, the hotel group's regional managing director.

The opening of the hotel takes place along side a wider roll-out of Cyberport projects.

7. Canadian mules set for cable car donkey work
Carrie Chan, SCMP 19 April 2004

For a city that prides itself on being a hi-tech, international finance hub, six Canadian mules seem an unlikely key to a $950 million construction project.

But the MTR Corporation has turned to the wilds of Alberta, Canada, to recruit six of the beasts of burden to help in the construction of the Tung Chung cable car project on Lantau.

Not surprisingly, it's the first time mules will be used for transporting materials in a commercial project in Hong Kong

The use of the mules, who arrive next month, means no new roads will have to be laid to build a section of the cable car link from Nei Lak Shan to the Ngong Ping terminal near the Big Buddha.

But the mules' daily 4km-route up the hill will not be easy. Over 14 months, they will work six-hour days lugging 100 to 122kg loads of cement, sand, soil and timber contained in plastic boxes. Helicopters will be used when the slope angle is steeper than 30 degrees.

With the help of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, local grooms will take care of the animals. The mules will be kept in cabins about 200 metres from the Ngong Ping neighbourhood.

The project, due to be completed in 2006, will offer a 7.5km, 20-minute journey from Tung Chung to the Big Buddha.

The MTRC's building contractor, Maeda, said it had spent s months looking in Europe, Austria ha, Canada and the mainland f mules "with relevant working experience".

Project manager Archie CIE said he was not worried about the adaptability of the mules. "The mules are extremely adaptive both high and low temperature We would have local grooms who will make them work," he said.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club's veterinary surgeon Gordon Sidlow said mules were preferable to horses for the job because they could carry loads equivalent to their body weight.

Friends of the Earth environ mental affairs manager Chu Hon keung said the pack weights we acceptable.

"But these mules may possibly eat up the grass when they go up-hill, hence causing destruction plant species," he said.