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1. Changes possible for controversial Tamar site

2. Cable car draws fire for Lantau risk

3. Tamar opponents call on stakeholders to share views on project

1. Changes possible for controversial Tamar site
Leslie Kwoh, The Standard 25 April 2006

A closed-door meeting between government officials and members of the main pro-Beijing party has revealed that present plans for the HK$5 billion government headquarters at Tamar are "amendable within certain limits."

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong lawmakers Choy So-yuk and Wong Ting- kwong met on Monday morning with administrative officials - including Permanent Secretary of the Chief Executive's Office Chang King-yiu, Director of Administration Elizabeth Tse Man-yee and Chief Town Planner Phyllis Li Chi-miu - to discuss the party's concerns about the "basic principles" of the government's proposal.

The party, which has pushed for the construction of the headquarters at the old Kai Tak airport site, was said to have made a U-turn in its stance earlier this month when it backed a funding proposal for a new government post to oversee the Tamar project.

But in an interview Monday, Choy said: "We feel the government should look at the basic principles before coming to us.

"After we approved the new administrative post [to oversee Tamar], we wanted to know the government's plans and how they will proceed. On the other hand, we also wanted them to know what the DAB is expecting, not just for Tamar, but criteria for the whole Central harborfront."

She said officials responded "rather positively" Monday to the party's list of concerns, which included pedestrian access, the proposed Central-Wan Chai bypass and other public uses which could potentially enliven the area. The party also raised concerns about proposals for Civic Square , a large open area next to the Tamar headquarters building, suggesting the square be divided into smaller open spaces to allow for "small pockets of activity."

Choy vowed to build on Monday's momentum by raising "black and white" questions at today's meeting of the Legislative Council's panel on land, planning and works - such as whether or not the government can guarantee a North Island MTR line, a northern Central tramway, appropriate pedestrian crossings to and from the Tamar site, and lower-density commercial developments in that area.

Presenting the party's recommendations was Paul Zimmerman, convenor for Designing Hong Kong Harbour District, who was invited because "in general we like some of his ideas, and we wanted to tell the government we concur with some of his points," Choy said.

Environmental concern groups including Designing Hong Kong Harbour District, Civic Exchange, the Conservancy Association and Citizen Envisioning@Harbour had been "flat-out refused" meetings with government officials in recent months, Zimmerman said, and so he was excited by Monday's opportunity.

He said the hour-long meeting was the "first intelligent debate about planning issues," and discussion about the technical aspects of the site "simply demonstrated that there is a need for a review."

He was disappointed, however, when officials continued to reiterate they did not want to see any delays in the project.

"The key concern of the government is not the quality of the plan," he said. "The government will try to solve issues within its existing framework, but our approach is to identify the needs before coming up with a framework."

But while the meeting failed to produce any consensus, Zimmerman said officials appeared to at least recognize the need to look at some of the issues, such as the potential for a "dead zone" at the site after working hours and on weekends.

He said he will continue to arrange private meetings with each political party to discuss concerns.

2. Cable car draws fire for Lantau risk
Chester Yung, The Standard, 25 April 2006

The nearly completed Ngong Ping cable car project on Lantau has been criticized by lawmakers and conservationists over what they say is a lack of hill-fire prevention measures in the ecologically sensitive area.

In a paper on the issue presented to the Legislative Council environmental affairs panel Monday, independent lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip - whose electorate of New Territories West includes Lantau - argued the project has not been properly managed, resulting in a serious threat to the environment and ecology of Ngong Ping.

A former member of an advisory panel to the project also said the developer, MTR Corporation, had "misinformed" the group of important details.

Critics say fire risks in the area will increase substantially with the massive influx of tourists into the park, either as cable car passengers or hikers along a new trail that follows the cable car route.

"The government ignored the risk of hill fires and no preventive measures have been taken," Chan wrote in his paper.

He noted that much of the Ngong Ping area comprises of highly combustible grass and shrubland.

"Hill fires don't only destroy woodland but animals as well, posing a serious threat to the ecology," he said.

Ngong Ping 360, as the HK$950 million project is called, is a 5.7-kilometer cable car linking Tung Chung with the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping, and includes a stop at the airport. It is due to open in the middle of the year and is expected to carry 1.5 million passengers annually.

The project raised conservationists' concerns when it was announced because its route traverses the North Lantau Country Park . The MTRC has pledged a strong commitment to environmental management.

But horticulturalist Paul Melsom, a former member of the project's Sustainable Advisory Board, disagrees.

"Fires are always possible in the dry season on Lantau and there are indeed many hill fires which start on remote areas and not just in grave sites during Ching Ming," Melsom wrote in a separate submission to Legco .

"Much of the areas under the cable car are easily combustible dry grass and ferns. This can easily catch [fire] and spread quickly in dry windy conditions."

Melsom, who runs eco-education activities on Lantau for children, resigned his post on the board last month.

"I became disillusioned over the period I was on the board," he said. "We were misinformed on a number of critical environmental issues."

Melsom did not attend the Legco panel meeting but told The Standard Monday that the MTRC had assured the advisory board that cable car gondolas were designed to prevent passengers throwing litter or cigarette butts out of the windows. "But when we were given an inspection of the cable car recently, we saw this was not the case. In fact, it will be quite easy for passengers to throw objects into the country side," he said.

In responding to the criticism, the Environmental Protection Department said it places great emphasis on fire prevention and that the Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department will "closely monitor the operation of the cable car system and continue to implement various fire-fighting measures in country parks."

An environmental impact assessment report said the additional risk of hill fires in the vicinity of the cable car would be "insignificant" but it acknowledges that cable car tower sites are within areas "prone to hill fires."

"However, it has been noted that only one or two hill fires have been recorded in this area within the last 10 years ... no evidence is present to suggest that the fire frequency and intensity will increase," the report says.

But Melsom argued that one or two hill fires in this area indicates there is a problem, "especially with the increase of hundreds of thousands of probably less environmentally aware tourists travelling on the cable car."

Melsom also noted that there is a rising trend of hill fires on the island.

"There have been numerous hill fires in the Tung Chung area in recent years," he wrote. "There was a big hill fire between Disneyland and Discovery Bay in November 2004 that wiped out an estimated 5.2 square kilometers."

The environmental impact assessment report said it was up to the MTRC to propose a fire prevention strategy for all works within the country park.

The strategy "will include measures to prevent hill fires, including no smoking, cooking or use of open fires on sites, no cigarette lighters or matches shall be carried onto the site in connection with the Tung Chung Cable Car Project" the report said.

"Was this ever done properly?" Melsom wrote. "No fire beaters were supplied until very late in the project. And only 20 fire beaters were supplied eventually.

It is unacceptable that no fire prevention methods have been put in place to stop fires from happening. This area is too precious with the flora and fauna it contains to expose to risk."

3. Tamar opponents call on stakeholders to share views on project
Leslie Kwoh, The Standard, 25 April 2006

With less than two months to go before lawmakers make the final decision on the controversial new government headquarters at Tamar, opponents of the project have taken matters into their own hands by calling on representatives from government, businesses, political parties and concern groups to meet under one roof.

Members of the Central and Western District Council and environmental group Citizen Envisioning@Harbour met Monday to send out invitations asking "all stakeholders" to attend two public workshops next month to share their respective proposals for the project.

"We're not trying to advocate a stance, we just want to set up a platform whereby the community can express views," said Albert Lai Kwong-tak, chairman of the Hong Kong People's Council for Sustainable Development and vice chairman of the Civic Party. "We want to ensure planning by the people, for the people."

Among the invitees are the four major political parties, think-tank Civic Exchange, the Harbour Business Forum and Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.

The decision to send an invitation to Tsang was prompted by a failed attempt two weeks earlier to invite Director of Administration Elizabeth Tse Man-yee, Lai said.

"She said she was busy with the project's prequalification process and would probably not be able to find the time to attend, so we decided to formally write to the chief executive in the hopes that he would come," he said.

The invitations were sent less than one week after the government unveiled a scaled-down version of the proposed HK$5 billion government headquarters. A government paper released last Wednesday indicated a 10 percent decrease in floor area requirements from a 2003 estimate to 62,340 square meters of net operating floor area.

But Central-Western district councillor Lam Kin-lai said Monday the administration had still to answer on a number of issues, such as the resulting transportation plans for Wan Chai.

Convenor of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District Paul Zimmerman added: "The scaling back is peanuts compared with the larger issues. Nobody has seen the plans for Tamar. You cannot approve funding until you have an agreed plan."

The Legislative Council's panel on planning, lands and works will meet today to discuss the government's latest floor area estimates.