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1. Government in retreat over Tseung Kwan O reclamation

2. 'SWAT team' could have alerted us to Sars outbreak

1. Government in retreat over Tseung Kwan O reclamation
KENNETH KO, SCMP 7 May 2003

Plans to intensify building density in Tseung Kwan O have been dropped, with a new government study favouring a cutback in reclamation.

According to the latest consultation paper released by the Territory Development Department on the future development of the new town, the original proposal of reclaiming 72 hectares of land is not a preferred option.

Three schemes proposed as alternatives involve either no reclamation or cutting back the size of reclaimed land to between 41 and 55 hectares.

A reclamation cutback will mean a reduction in land for residential development and building density, and a smaller population size for Tseung Kwan O.

The change of development direction comes after repeated concerns expressed by the public on the need for further reclamation and those by property owners and developers on the impact on housing values of more flat provision.

The crowded living environment in Tseung Kwan O, characterised by high-rise residential buildings, has been also criticised as undesirable planning.

Early this year, the Secretary of Housing, Planning and Lands, Michael Suen Ming-yeung, said the government would avoid repeating planning mistakes made in Tseung Kwan O.

In the latest proposal, the focus has been conspicuously shifted to providing a better living environment by maximising leisure and recreational potential rather than housing development potential.

Tseung Kwan O is now home to about 300,000 people. The outline zoning plan allows a capacity of 480,000.

In the latest study, the Territory Development Department proposes enhancing the living environment in the new town by reducing the population density at new and undeveloped building sites.

The average plot ratios of the four development options are between 3.5 and 4.5, with population density at 600 persons per hectare - lower than the ratio of six and average density of 965 persons per hectare under present planning.

The change did not come as a surprise, considering the sharp declines in property values along with weakened home-buying sentiment in recent years.

S K Pang Surveyors managing director Pang Shiu-kee said the cutback in reclamation and land for development meant that the government would lose land revenues.

"It is a question of give and take. For a better living environment, lower building density is preferred. This is especially true since the recent Sars outbreak, which has made people more aware of the quality of living in Hong Kong's high-rise developments," he said.

The tendency to reduce development density and hence housing supply is likely to come as a comfort to owners and developers in the new town in the long term.

The large supply of new flats has been haunting the residential market in Tseung Kwan O, with developers relying on low pricing to draw buyers.

New projects on sale include Ocean Shores, Nan Fung Plaza, Park Central and Serenity Place.

Mr Pang said developers and property owners probably welcomed the change, considering the weak demand and the large supply of homes for sale.

"The planning change will result in a reduction in land supply over the long term, which should be positive for the property market," he said.

"If no reclamation proceeds, residents or owners of new projects such as Ocean Shores will not need to worry that the views being enjoyed now will be blocked by high-rise development on the waterfront."

In the first of four development options, the Territory Development Department proposed at the second public consultation that no further reclamation be carried out in the new town.

This option focuses on developing 57 hectares of land south of Tseung Kwan O town centre, with 25 of those hectares for residential use. Total population for the new town is set at 460,000, including 5,000 to be housed in a low-rise residential development at Pak Shing Kok.

Option two will reclaim 41 hectares of land, to increase the development area to 98 hectares, including 37 hectares for residential use. It seeks to maximise the potential for recreation and leisure.

Under option three, a bigger reclamation area of 55 hectares will increase the area for development to 112 hectares.

Under options two and three, the population for Tseung Kwan O will increase to 495,000.

Option four will reclaim 72 hectares of land, with the population at 510,000. This scheme to maximise housing development was "not recommended" by the department.

The department will hold a public forum to solicit views on Friday. A preferred development option will be presented at a third round of public consultation.

2. 'SWAT team' could have alerted us to Sars outbreak
Letters to the Editor, SCMP 7 May 2003

Like the west coast of the US, Hong Kong and southern China are cursed with their proximity to periodic sources of natural cataclysms.

The shift in continental fault lines in California disrupts civilisation there every generation or so. In the case of southern China, it is the viral sump created by the confluence of pigs, pigeons, pangolins and people.

Unlike the western US, the south China pathogen soup is man-made. Like the western US, every generation or so, a new pestilence emerges from this morass which kills a few (avian influenza), thousands (Sars) or tens of millions (1918-19 influenza), resulting in serious societal dislocations and massive economic losses.

At this point, Sars does not appear to be the "big one". The disease's natural transmissibility is just tame enough to submit to the human capacity to understand it and implement standard precautionary infection procedures to prevent a wider spread.

What about the next outbreak? Sars has sharpened our maths skills; we now know how vulnerable our global health-care infrastructure is to swifter-acting and more virulent infectious pathogens.

Knowing the low threshold of this capacity, I am curious why there has not been more discussion of tactical efforts to track down the source of these viruses and eliminate them.

While I admire the influenza experts who trudge into southern China each spring to swab livestock for autumn's global flu vaccines, should we not be exploring ways to drain the viral cesspool that is the source of many of these outbreaks? Can we not think about new livestock production methods that greatly reduce the risk of mutant germs emerging?

At the minimum, can't we think about "embedding" disease SWAT teams that become permanent fixtures of the southern China landscape, hunting these diseases in their infancy? Such a vigilant SWAT team could have rung the alarm bell when Sars patient zero, or even patient 100, displayed abnormal symptoms.

The earthquake could have been prevented.

JOEL HAGGARD, Causeway Bay