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1. Building a Pearl River Delta dialogue

2. MTRC plans for residential area blocked

3. Cheung Kong to speed up construction of new project

1. Building a Pearl River Delta dialogue
SCMP, 31 May 2003

In the kind of small step that can mark a watershed, experts gathered for the first time this week to discuss ways to co-ordinate medical strategies against Sars in Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong. The agreement reached was modest - the experts decided what to do when people with Sars are detected crossing the borders. They will be taken in by hospitals in the zone they are travelling from, regardless of their place of origin, in order to help seal off the spread of infection.

It is this sort of conundrum, seemingly mundane, that comes up all the time in the idiosyncratic administrative and political patchwork left behind by the reversion of Hong Kong and Macau to China after centuries of colonial rule. This simple decision leaves in its wake a new piece of institutional structure knitting the delta together. Much more of the same is needed, in terms of co-ordination and dialogue at the middle levels of government and across professional, business, and civic organisations in the delta.

The historical irony is that Hong Kong's determination to uphold the separateness of its political institutions has left it with inadequate resources to take advantage of its geographic opportunities. Situated adjacent to China's fastest growing economic sub-region, Hong Kong has few tools to conduct dialogue with its neighbours on issues ranging from environmental pollution to immigration and customs.

Not only the Hong Kong government but also the governments of Guangdong and Macau have failed to seize the initiative in setting up such dialogue, partly because of reluctance to get out ahead of the central government, but also due to inherent rivalries. At present, the meetings held every six months between the Hong Kong and Guangdong governments by nature are confined to higher-order issues. The Sars crisis pointed out the cost of the absence of dialogue, but also the opportunities that exist when practitioners and specialists sit down with each other to sort out common problems.

The central government's support is crucial, but there is ample room within the one nation, three-fold system to launch more interaction of this kind. A few months back, Christopher Cheng Wai-chee, former chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, made a good suggestion in these pages that the delta form a regional economic council. Its main usefulness would be to focus energies on common regional problems and put people together who would otherwise remain apart, such as customs commissioners and environmental specialists.

Mr Cheng's model was the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation grouping, which started small with unofficial private-sector sessions. Surely it is time to consider such a council, along with other ideas to help knit our three solitudes together.

2. MTRC plans for residential area blocked
KENNETH KO, SCMP 31 May 2003

The MTR Corp's (MTRC) attempt to turn an office-retail development in Tseung Kwan O into a mainly residential and hotel area was blocked by the Town Planning Board yesterday.

The planning board also recommended the site be included in an ongoing Territory Development Department study on Tseung Kwan O's future expansion.

This means that the project could take even longer to get off the ground because the study was not expected to be ready until the middle of next year.

MTRC's original plan was to develop two 38-storey office towers providing 1.11 million square feet, and about 645,000 sq ft of retail space on the 420,000 sq ft site in Tseung Kwan O station.

In view of weak office market prospects, the railway company proposed to build four 45-storey to 49-storey residential towers and two 32-storey hotel blocks instead.

The new blueprint would provide 1,600 flats involving a floor area of 968,760 sq ft and 1,280 hotel rooms involving 645,840 sq ft. Retail space has been cut to about 140,000 sq ft.

A Town Planning Board spokesman said the new proposal was rejected because it was against the planning intention. He said the site was the only pure commercial site in Tseung Kwan O and was located in the town centre, so the board had reservations.

The board was also concerned about the additional population arising from the proposed residential development which could increase the burden on the already densely populated district, he said.

MTRC property director Thomas Ho Hang-kwong said yesterday that the new plan was proposed because there was no demand for offices in Tseung Kwan O and an oversupply in the market.

He also said supply of retail space in the area was too much so it proposed a sharp reduction in the retail portion for the project.

Because the proposal was refused, Mr Ho said MTRC would weigh its options to decide on its next move.

MTRC also said in a statement that it had no plans to invite developers for expression of interest in October for its massive residential project in the Area 86 depot site in Tseung Kwan O.

Meanwhile, four hotel redevelopment projects on former industrial sites received the Town Planning Board's approval yesterday as developers continued their efforts to strive for flexibility for under-utilised properties.

The four redevelopment projects - two undertaken by Henderson Land Development and two by Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) - would provide 2,830 rooms.

Henderson Land received the go-ahead to build a 496-room budget hotel on an 18,050 sq ft site in San Po Kong. It has a potential floor area of 216,615 sq ft.

The group will also develop a 1.09 million sq ft office-hotel project on a 91,040 sq ft site at King Yip Street in Kwun Tong. The project includes a 24-storey office block providing 548,700 sq ft of space and a 35-storey hotel block with 1,086 rooms involving 457,250 sq ft.

There will also be 86,520 sq ft of retail space.

SHKP secured the approval to build a 598-room hotel on a 17,286 sq ft site at Hung To Road and a 650-room hotel on a 24,370 sq ft site at Wai Yip Street, both in Kwun Tong.

So far this year, the planning board has approved 13 hotel redevelopment projects on former industrial sites which were rezoned for business use. The hotels provided more than 6,000 rooms.

3. Cheung Kong to speed up construction of new project
Nicole Kwok, The Standard 31 May 2003

Cheung Kong (Holdings) has realised more than HK$6.2 billion from home sales at its Vianni Cove and Banyan Garden projects.

With the better-than-expected sales at Vianni Cove in Tin Shui Wai, the developer will speed up the construction of another mass residential project in the area.

``We saw there was a strong demand for new flats in Tin Shui Wai from the strong sales of the Vianni Cove flats. The opening of West Rail in the next quarter will also attract more buyers from other districts,'' senior sales manager Joseph Lau said.

The new project, located at Area 24 in Tin Shui Wai, has yet to be named. Eight residential towers will provide about 3,000 two-to-four-bedroom flats with floor areas ranging from 600 to 1,000 square feet.

``We hope that we could receive the consent for the sale within the next two months,'' Lau said.

Cheung Kong has sold more than 800 Vianni Cove units so far, reaping HK$1.2 billion, and hopes to sell the remaining 200-plus units in the next two to three months. The average selling price will stay at about HK$1,700 to HK$1,800 per square foot.

A new batch of 10 three-bedroom units is being offered at an average of HK$1,564 per square foot tomorrow. The minimum flat price is HK$1.19 million.

The developer will also release a batch of 12 units at Banyan Garden in West Kowloon averaging at HK$2,539 psf.

Senior sales manager Francis Wong said more than 2,250 units at Banyan Garden had been sold, accounting for 90 per cent of the total flats and bringing in over HK$5 billion.

Meanwhile, Cheung Kong executive director Justin Chiu told Singapore's The Straits Times newspaper yesterday the company planned to release about 450 condominium units this year in Singapore and to buy more land to build homes.