News Stories:

Click-on these handy "jump links" to quickly access the news item
you're looking for.

1. Sino Land wins $2b project

2. Magnificent adds to hotel portfolio

3. Hotel in Western bought for $350m

4. Stanley makeover gets Legco backing

5. Sars spread by flushing toilets, study reveals

1. Sino Land wins $2b project
Raymond Wang, The Standard 27 April 2004

Sino Land has won its third major project in two months - this time by outbidding 13 developers for the HK$2 billion urban renewal project in Tsuen Wan.

The Urban Renewal Authority announced yesterday that Sino Land had won the joint development contract for its Yeung Uk Road project.

Details of Sino's offer price and the profit-sharing ratio with URA from future property sales were not disclosed.

A URA spokesman said construction will start shortly on a residential and commercial complex on the 77,824 square feet site, which could generate a total gross floor area of up to 490,000 sq ft. The project is expected to be completed in 2007.

Other bidders are believed to have included Cheung Kong (Holdings), Henderson Land Development, Wharf (Holdings), New World Development, Hang Lung Properties, K Wah International, Kerry Properties, China Overseas Land and Investment, Chinese Estates Holdings, Chinachem Group, New Asia Realty and Nan Fung Development.

Alvin Yip, investment director at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, said the competitiveness of bidding for recent tenders reflects developers' optimism in the property market.

Sino Land's aggressiveness has been fuelled by strong buying at its Oasis Residence project in Tseung Kwan O. Chairman Robert Ng has predicted property prices ``will continue their upward trend after short-term consolidation''.

Sino Land is replenishing its land bank after slowing down land acquisitions over the past few years due to the market slump.

The company teamed up with China Overseas Land and Investment to buy a residential site in Shenzhen for 950 million yuan (HK$895.6 million), or 674 yuan per square foot at an auction held this month.

In February, Sino bought a luxury development site at 53 Conduit Road in the Mid-Levels for about HK$250 million, representing an accommodation value of nearly HK$4,000 psf.

Separately, a Sino Land spokeswoman said the company has linked up with China Overseas Land and Nan Fung Development to submit expressions of interest for the construction of the SkyCity Hotel at Hong Kong International Airport.

An Airport Authority spokeswoman refused to say how many expressions of interest had been received when the deadline expired yesterday. She said investors from the Middle East, Europe, Hong Kong and Asia Pacific had expressed interest in the project, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006.

With a plot ratio of about seven times, the 270,000 sq ft site could generate a total gross floor area of about 1.9 million sq ft.

The authority will invite interested parties to submit tenders in the second half of this year after a shortlist is finalised.

Sino Land is also expected to bid at next month's government land auction, the first in 20 months.

2. Magnificent adds to hotel portfolio
Raymond Wang, The Standard 27 April 2004

Locally listed Magnificent Estates has purchased a Western District building that is in the process of being converted into a hotel.

The purchase marks its second hotel project in seven months to capitalise on a growing number of mainland tourists.

The company's affiliate, Magnificent International Hotel, paid HK$350 million, or HK$1.21 million per room, for the building at 304-314 Des Voeux Road West, according to sales agent DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

The deal came after the purchase of a hotel site in North Point from Lai Sun Garment (International) chairman Lim Por-yen for HK$230 million in September. Development costs of the hotel project are estimated at HK$500 million. After the renovation of the 28-storey building in Western District this year, the hotel will have a gross floor area of 155,000 square feet and 289 guest rooms.

The hotel is expected to open this year and DTZ Debenham Tie Leung investment director Alvin Yip expects return to be 6 per cent to 7 per cent.

3. Hotel in Western bought for $350m
PEGGY SITO, SCMP 27 April 2004

Betting on an increasing influx of mainland tourists, mid-tier hotel operator Magnificent Estates has acquired a 289-room hotel development in Western, on Hong Kong Island, for $350 million.

Through its unit Magnificent International Hotel, the company acquired the 28-storey hotel project on Des Voeux Road West, formerly known as the Pearl Grand Parc & Hotel, through an open tender offered by Liu Chong Hing Bank.

The property was formerly owned by Sun's Group but had been repossessed by Liu Chong Hing, the bankrupt developer's creditor bank.

The development was formerly an office building but Sun's had obtained government approval to convert it into a hotel, according to Alvin Yip, director of DTZ Debenham Tie Leung's investment department.

DTZ Debenham is the agent for Magnificent Estates, which also owns the Ramada Hotel Kowloon in Tsim Sha Tsui.

As the number of prospective mainland tourists balloons, hotels become more attractive to investors and funds, Mr Yip said.

Starting from July 1, the individual travellers' scheme will be extended to nine more cities in three provinces, making 43 million more mainland residents eligible to visit Hong Kong.

Together with the existing cities covered by the scheme, more than 150 million mainland residents in 32 cities will soon be able to visit Hong Kong if they so choose.

"The move leads to [investor] belief that the demand for hotel rooms will continue to grow," Mr Yip said.

The supply of hotel rooms on Hong Kong Island is forecast to increase by about 6,000 over the next three years.

An estimated 16,627 new rooms are being developed across the harbour in Kowloon, according to Mr Yip.

4. Stanley makeover gets Legco backing
ELAINE WU, SCMP 27 April 2004

An artist's impression shows some proposed changes to Stanley Main Street

Stanley waterfront will be further improved as a tourist spot under an $87.5 million renovation plan, approved by Legco's economic services panel yesterday, to widen its pedestrian areas and add more shops and restaurants.

The project, scheduled to be completed in 2007, will widen Stanley Main Street with a boardwalk by realigning the sea wall.

The government will also build a pier at Murray House, where many restaurants are located.

The Tourism Commission is considering a circuit ferry route to run via the pier to other tourist spots such as Lamma Island and Aberdeen.

A temporary wet market will be demolished to make way for about 20 eateries and souvenir shops. The government will also improve the surrounding areas of the Shui Sin Temple.

The changes are part of the Tourism Commission's effort to further develop Stanley as a tourist attraction. It has already added alfresco dining in Stanley Main Street and extended pedestrian hours on the main roads.

The commission has no estimate on how many tourists will visit Stanley after the redevelopment.

Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents chairman Michael Wu Siu-ieng welcomed the improvement project. "Stanley is a major sightseeing spot," he said. "If they beautify it then it would be an even better tourist site."

The administration will seek funding for the project from the Finance Committee next month. But before doing so, panel chairman James Tien Pei-chun said the administration should consider adding parking spaces for tourist buses and eliminating the soccer pitch from the waterfront project.

Under the plan, a soccer pitch located at the end of the waterfront will stay. Tourism Commissioner Eva Cheng Yu-wah said the pitch had to stay because residents needed the recreational space.

The pitch will be turned into a multipurpose facility that can be used for performances and fairs.

But Mr Tien said it was a waste of prime real estate to keep the pitch on the waterfront and asked that it be moved to another area.

Legislator Sin Chung-kai said it would be more appropriate to build a playground in place of the pitch for families that visit the area.

Southern District Councillor Lam Kai-fai said moving the soccer pitch would not be feasible because there was limited space in Stanley.

"The soccer pitch is already smaller than the standard size because there is not enough space. If that is taken away, there would be no soccer pitch in Stanley."

5. Sars spread by flushing toilets, study reveals
Mary Ann Benitez and Reuters, SCMP 23 April 2004

Water droplets containing the virus were carried by wind from Amoy Gardens

The massive Sars outbreak at Amoy Gardens in Hong Kong last year was caused by airborne transmission. A large number of water droplets carrying the virus were generated by flushing toilets before being spread by wind into neighbouring buildings, new research shows.

The study, published in yesterday's edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, means preventive measures to stop the generation of aerosols would have to be in place to prevent a similar outbreak.

"Our conclusion is that airborne transmission was the most likely explanation for the Amoy Gardens outbreak," said lead author Ignatius Yu Tak-sun, associate professor in community medicine at the Chinese University.

"This has public health implications in the sense that we need to be aware that under a combination of circumstances, airborne spread is possible. First we need to contain the source and we need to avoid processes that can lead to aerosolisation of the virus."

Professor Yu said appropriate prevention against airborne contaminants would have to be adopted, which was difficult to do at the community level. Wearing masks would not be adequate.

The study lends further support to the findings by the World Health Organisation and the Department of Health that dried U-traps in a faulty sewage system had helped spread the virus at the private housing estate in Kowloon Bay, infecting 329 and killing 42.

A sick man discharged from Prince of Wales Hospital after being misdiagnosed with flu brought the Sars virus to Block E when he visited his brother in March. The ill man, who had diarrhoea, spread the virus via the sewage system, as did other subsequently infected victims.

Contaminated droplets were drawn into bathrooms through the dried-out floor drains when residents used their bathrooms with doors closed and exhaust fans on.

Professor Yu's team said the WHO-Department of Health findings accounted for only the rapid spread within Block E, where more than half the infected patients lived.

After building a mock-up of the drainage system, "we found that huge numbers of aerosols were generated" in the plumbing system when toilets were flushed, the study said. The team then used, computer simulations of wind and airflow to see where the virus might have travelled.

"The distribution of risk in buildings B, C and D corresponded well with the three-dimensional spread of virus-laden aerosols," the researchers said.