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1. Public 'in dark' about Pui O resort

2. 400 iron gratings stolen from reservoir

3. Skyscraper ban at reclamation site

4. Kevin Sinclair's Hong Kong

5. SHKP pays $2b land premium for 2 sites

6. Developers woo arts groups in bid to win hub project

7. Retail podium up for tender

8. Building plans approved in February

1. Public 'in dark' about Pui O resort
KEVIN SINCLAIR, SCMP 5 May 2004

Green groups and residents claim they have been kept in the dark about plans by an Islands District councillor to build a 100-unit holiday resort in a coastal protection zone near Pui O Beach, Lantau.

The politician, Tony Wan Tung-lam, said planning permission had been given for the project in 1996. Now a family-owned company is seeking a land-exchange agreement with the government to give it beach access and to consolidate a one-hectare site for the project.

A spokesman for the Town Planning Board has confirmed the project, adding that building height would be restricted to three storeys and the maximum number of people expected to stay there overnight in peak holiday seasons would be about 180.

The spokesman refused to identify the development company.

Mr Wan said he wanted to work with the Pui O community. "Right now we are waiting for plans to be approved," he added.

But environmental groups are angry, largely because despite constant contact with various government agencies, they were not told of the proposal. And local residents dispute claims by the Islands District Lands Office that notices inviting objections were prominently posted in February.

Several residents and regular beach-users said that no such notices were displayed on village notice boards.

The only one found was on a remote fence. A member of the Living Islands Movement and a resident of Pui O, Cecilie Gamst Berg - who walks her dog in the area every day and regularly examines village notice boards - insists she saw no Lands Department notice posted in February.

It was while hiking on the far side of the site in an area with no path that she found a notice on the plan.

"These are underhand methods of telling the public what is going on," Ms Gamst Berg said. "What's the next consultation going to be, a note hidden under a rock?"

Mr Wan's family has been buying up plots of agricultural land at the back of Pui O Beach for at least 14 years. The family and South Coast Investment Company Ltd - which was formed in 1990 and is owned by Wan family members - now controls most of the area behind the dunes.

Searches at the Land Registry show that over a period of years, the company paid various prices, commonly between $1.2 million and $1.4 million, for more than 50 plots of agricultural land.

The board spokesman said that under zoning regulations, a "holiday camp" was permitted on a coastal protection zone. Approval was given in 1996 and extensions were later granted in 1998, 2000 and 2002. The present planning permission runs out in July.

In February, the District Islands Lands Office said it posted notices in the area informing the public that South Coast Investment Company wanted to exchange 54 lots of land for a consolidated piece of land measuring 10,410 sq metres.

Under plans submitted to the Town Planning Board, the resort in the coastal protection zone will include a three-storey multi-purpose building with a gross floor area of 2,290 square metres.

There will be an open-air cafeteria, barbecues and recreational facilities.

Mr Wan sat on the Islands District Council from 1988 to 1994 and again since 2000. He said his family company had spent more than 10 years planning the holiday resort.

He said the application was for 10 to 12 buildings.

2. 400 iron gratings stolen from reservoir
CLIFFORD LO, SCMP 5 May 2004

Thieves have stripped more than 400 iron gratings from a new reservoir in Yuen Long, with officials suspecting they have been sold as scrap metal.

Two employees of the Water Supplies Department yesterday morning found 433 drain covers were missing from the Tan Kwai Tsuen South Service Reservoir, in Tan Kwai Tsuen Road.

The cast iron gratings cost $200 each and officials believe they have been sold to mainland scrap metal merchants for about $20.

The gratings were stolen from water channels outside the main block of the service reservoir and accounted for 40 per cent of the site's covers, a spokeswoman for the Water Supplies Department said.

"It is the first time such a large quantity of cast-iron gratings has been stolen from our department-managed areas," she said.

The spokeswoman said the department would look into security measures and make improvements if necessary.

The new service reservoir covers about 200,000 sq m and is due to start operating this month.

Police said it was not known when the drain covers were stolen because no one worked at the site. It was last checked on April 16.

Officers believe intruders broke through the padlock of the site's main gate and escaped with the drain covers in a delivery vehicle.

Last year, cast iron fetched about 90 cents a kg, but prices have risen this year by between 70 and 80 per cent.

Police have warned marine dealers against trading in drain covers and gratings after thefts were reported from parks, public housing estates and open MTR stations.

In February, 96 drain covers were stolen from a park at the junction of Jordan Road and Canton Road in Yau Ma Tei.

Last year, more than 200 drain covers were stolen from public housing estates.

3. Skyscraper ban at reclamation site
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 5 May 2004

Buildings on the new Central reclamation site will be a maximum of 10 storeys high, a senior government official has promised.

John Chai Sung-veng, the director of the Territorial Development Department, added that the commercial buildings on most of the site would only be three storeys high, according to a conceptual plan presented at this week's EnviroSeries conference on the harbour, co-sponsored by the South China Morning Post.

"There won't be any skyscrapers, all of them will be low-rise," Mr Chai said.

Commercial buildings up to 10 storeys will be restricted to a triangular site on the western edge of the reclamation, near Statue Square. Commercial sites will make up about 5 hectares of the 18-hectare reclamation.

Anti-reclamation groups fear the reclamation site could be later rezoned, and the bulk of the site turned over to commercial development. But the government has rejected such claims, saying that any proposed amendments would need to be gazetted.

Mr Chai said that people would be drawn to the waterfront by what he called three "thematic pedestrian links". These would allow access to the waterfront promenade from the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the Tamar site and Statue Square.

Defending the decision to proceed with the Victoria Harbour reclamation, Mr Chai said the whole project had gone through all the essential procedures and the government had consulted the public and relevant organisations.

The controversial project was put back on track after Mr Justice Michael Hartmann made a ruling in March which upheld the chief executive's powers in the planning process. That ruling, which centred on the interpretation of the Town Planning Ordinance, rejected the Society for Protection of the Harbour's application to force the government to send the plans back to the Town Planning Board for approval.

The government insists that the Central reclamation is essential to provide land to build a road network including the Central-Wan Chai bypass.

Mr Chai said the plan of creating three thematic pedestrian links was only at the conceptual stage and the government would like more public input on what should be included. He also said the government would talk to the official Harbourfront Enhancement Advisory Committee about how the pedestrian links should look.

"There will probably be restaurants and shops in the low-rises. We also imagine there will be arts activities and performances in the arts and entertainment corridor," he said.

"But [to decide] what exactly they will be like, we need the input of the public and members of the committee."

Meanwhile, the Harbourfront Enhancement Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting tomorrow. It is understood the first thing members will discuss is whether meetings should be open to the public.

4. Kevin Sinclair's Hong Kong
Kevin Sinclair, SCMP 5 May 2004

How do you discover that some government agency or real estate mogul has plans that might wreck your business or ruin your home environment? Usually, it's by a stroke of luck.

The process by which civil servants supposedly tell people of major works that could grossly hurt their lives is a catastrophic joke.

The latest example of what often seems like underhanded and devious scheming surrounds a planned holiday camp at placid Pui O.

Islands District Lands Office claims it put up notices. "Not true," claims Cecilie Gamst Berg, a resident of 15 years on Lantau who walks past Pui O village notice boards every day. "I always look at them. No notices were posted."

Other stakeholders agree. By the time they found out, the period permitting objections had long expired. Islands District Lands Officer Mr K.S. Ng stated no late objections would be considered. Ms Gamst Berg sums up: "They kept it secret so we wouldn't know about it. When we finally found out, they said it's too late to object. It's a Catch 22."

This is a pattern long familiar to environmental campaigners, local pressure groups and residents who wake up one morning to find planning permission has been given for works that will ruin their lives. It is based on a culture of official secrecy.

Many civil servants seem inclined on every possible occasion to be obliging and helpful to developers while being obstructive and unco-operative to residents and other stakeholders.

Let's refer briefly to two examples. Two years ago, stall holders in the iconic Stanley bazaar heard with stunned disbelief that planning approval had been sought to tear down the market. They were enraged. Thousands of residents and tourists swiftly signed protest petitions. The plan was dropped. Those most directly affected, the stall holders and Stanley business groups, had never been told.

District Office South and other government agencies insisted they had dutifully followed all legal procedures. Just a couple of months later, middle-class residents of expensive homes on Mount Davis discovered, by accident, that the government planned on building an immense mortuary next to their homes.

This would have destroyed the area's fung shui and torpedo property prices. Enraged residents said they had not been consulted. Civil servants bleated that all regulations had been followed; residents had missed the deadline to lodge objections.

Outraged, residents vowed they would fight to the death; they were not joking. Grumpily, with ill-grace, the government planners retreated when the administration forced them to back down.

There are scores more instances. In every case, there is smug, arrogant complacency on behalf of officials who seem to take enormous glee in helping to slide through proposals to which most stakeholders would object. The ambition seems to be to aid the few and frustrate the many.

Every single New Territories resident, with the exception of Mr Ng, knows what happens.

A civil servant trots about sticking up notices. Five seconds later, an indigenous villager planning to sell his land strolls out and takes the notice down. How else did Mr Ng inform the populace? He blithely sent notices to village representatives and the rural committee. This is a laughable insult to anyone with the brain of a water buffalo.

It is members of these bodies, who are behind the proposals. It's their land. How do other stakeholders get to know about it? Usually, they don't. Not until it is too late.

There's a simple solution. In addition to giving information to their pals in rural power groups, government officials should be obliged under strict regulations to pass the details to other interested bodies. In the case of Pui O's holiday hotel, that should obviously include the Green Lantau Association, Living Island Movement and the Pui O-based Lantau Buffalo Association.

They are stakeholders. So too are Friends of the Earth, World Wide Fund for Nature and various hiking and environmental bodies. So are local residents who are not indigenous villagers.

The present situation, which has roused anger for many years, is a cosy crony relationship between real estate tycoons, rural power brokers and civil servants. It should be halted immediately. It presents obvious avenues for graft and is totally against any philosophy of open government. It's a sham and a disgrace.

5. SHKP pays $2b land premium for 2 sites
Raymond Wang, The Standard 5 May 2004

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) has paid a land premium of HK$2 billion - the largest for several years - for the conversion of two agricultural blocks to residential use, a brokerage house said.

Yoho Town Phase 2 in Yuen Long has a gross floor area of 1.7 million square feet, while the second lot at Tung Fung Shan phases 3 and 4 in Sha Tin, has a gross floor area of about 690,000 square feet, the Daiwa Institute of Research (Hong Kong) said.

``We think it is noteworthy that land premium negotiations for these sites have dragged on for years. The Sha Tin site is located alongside a government lot that is to be auctioned later this month,'' analyst Jonas Kan said. ``That SHKP settled a land premium ahead of a land sale is an indication developers are optimistic about land sales.''

A SHKP spokesman declined to comment yesterday.

Daiwa did not give a breakdown of the premiums, but Centaline Surveyors estimates the total premium at HK$2.4 billion - HK$1.5 billion, or HK$900 per sq ft, for the Yuen Long site and HK$900 million, or HK$1,300 per sq ft, for the Sha Tin block. The settling of the premium came after Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings), controlled by property tycoon Lee Shau-kee's Henderson Land Development, agreed in March to pay the government HK$390 million in land premium for a residential project in Tai Kok Tsui.

Centaline Surveyors managing director Victor Lai said KWah International's HK$1,800 psf offer price for a residential lot in Sha Tin, which triggered a government land auction, provided a reference for SHKP's project in Sha Tin. ``SHKP will bid for the nearby lot at this month's auction to underpin the property market in Sha Tin,'' Lai said.

Separately, Daiwa said it expects SHKP's launch of 18 Farm Road and Park Island will greatly enhance the visibility of its earnings growth prospects.

Based on a six-month target price of HK$88.6 per share, which is equal to its forward net asset value to the end of 2004, the upside potential for SHKP's share price has increased to 32.2 per cent, it said.

After the recent share price correction, Daiwa believes SHKP's valuation is now at a very attractive level. Shares of SHKP rose 1.12 per cent to close at HK$67.75 yesterday.

6. Developers woo arts groups in bid to win hub project
Raymond Wang, The Standard 5 May 2004

Property developers are lobbying arts groups in a bid to help them secure the giant HK$24 billion West Kowloon cultural project.

One of Hong Kong's most prominent artistic figures, Danny Yung, told The Standard yesterday he is among those solicited. ``I have been giving my opinions but there is no commercial deal between me and developers,'' he said.

Yung, a controversial arts figure and founder of the Zuni Icosahedron arts association, said he had been approached by international consultants representing a developer, which he did not name. Developers hope that by presenting an image of affinity with the arts they might improve their chances of being awarded the lucrative development contract.

Bids for the 40-hectare development close next month and at least 11 individual companies or consortia are understood to have expressed interest in tendering. Among them are Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land.

The project's chosen design, by award-winning architect Norman Foster, allocates 39 per cent of the development site to arts and cultural use, 17 per cent for commerce such as offices, and 16 per cent for hotels and residential accommodation. The remaining 28 per cent has been designated for public space and utilities.

The government is known to favour a single developer or large consortium but small and medium-sized developers have been seeking access to a slice of the huge project - an idea supported by Yung. ``Smaller developers may have better and more competitive proposals on the cultural content, '' he said.

The arts community has voiced concern that the project could become dominated by pure commercial development like the Cyberport in Pok Fu Lam.

Swire Properties, which has declined to say whether it is one of the 11 companies to submit a ``letter of intent'' for the project, said the company had been very active in promoting arts and culture in Hong Kong for a long time. ``We've also helped in the performing arts side and we'll continue to be active,'' managing director Keith Kerr said.

7. Retail podium up for tender
ERNEST KONG, SCMP 5 May 2004

Australia-based investment fund Macquarie Real Estate Asia is the latest foreign fund to cash in its real estate investment in Hong Kong as retail property prices surge.

The fund has put a three-storey commercial podium in one of the city's most expensive streets up for public tender. The 22,642 square foot podium is at 8 Russell Street in Causeway Bay.

Last month, Australia-based Lend Lease put a 56-flat luxury residential tower up for public tender, while British developer Grosvenor sold its first Asian residential development, Grosvenor Place, in Repulse Bay, for $939 million.

Craig Wallace, Macquarie Real Estate Asia's managing director, said the target was to sell the property for between $500 million and $600 million.

"We are selling the property because it has reached our fund's preset return hurdle," Mr Wallace said.

The fund has properties worth $1.5 billion (current valuation) in Hong Kong, including the commercial podium and some serviced apartment blocks.

The property was Macquarie's first investment in Hong Kong.

In April last year, the fund teamed up with Schroder Asian Properties to acquire a retail office block at 8Russell Street.

The podium alone cost $367 million.

With anchor tenants such as Armani and Max & Co, the commercial space generates a monthly rent of $2.7 million.

Henry Lam Wai-hon, executive director of sole agent CB Richard Ellis, said the podium could sell for $550 million to $600 million, with a market capitalisation rate of up to 5.5 per cent.

"The market capitalisation rate for main street shops in Russell Street is about 4 to 5 per cent, but the comparatively new commercial podium can charge a premium," he said.

The tender closes on May 14.

8. Building plans approved in February
Hong Kong Government, 4 May 2004

The Buildings Department approved 12 building plans in February-- six on Hong Kong Island, four in Kowloon and two in the New Territories.

Of the approved plans, seven were for apartment and apartment/commercial developments, two were for commercial developments and three were for community services developments.

In the same month, consent was given for work to start on 21 building projects that, when completed, will provide 271,120 square metres of gross floor area for domestic use, involving 4,768 units, and 59,515 square metres of gross floor area for non-domestic use.

The department also issued 20 occupation permits -- six on Hong Kong Island, eight in Kowloon and six in the New Territories.

Of the buildings certified for occupation, the gross floor areas for domestic uses were 233,405 square metres, involving 2,024 units, and 120,832 square metres for non-domestic use.

The declared cost of the new buildings completed in February totalled about $4.035 billion.

In addition, 13 demolition consents involving 13 building structures were issued.

The department received 1,361 complaints against unauthorised building works in February, and issued 1,885 removal orders on unauthorised works.