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1. Authority `likely to buy back' ex-HOS project

2. Fund picks out eight sustainable projects

3. Draft Mong Kok Outline Zoning Plan amended

4. Harbour committee weighs up three tunnel options for easing congestion

5. Two projects secure approval for flat sale

1. Authority `likely to buy back' ex-HOS project
Raymond Wang, The Standard 7 May 2004

The Housing Authority is likely to buy back a subsidised flat project in Ngau Chi Wan after a deadlock in negotiations on land premium with the developer, sources said.

They said the developer, New World Development (NWD), had baulked at the HK$2,000 per square foot premium proposed by the government as it had expected to pay around HK$1,500 psf.

The 2,010-unit Kingsford Terrace was built under the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS), which the government suspended in 2002 before finally scrapping last year in a move to prop up the sagging property market.

Before it can sell the project as private apartments, NWD must reimburse the government for subsidies, mostly in the form of land.

Recent signs of consolidation in property prices are understood to have prompted NWD not to accept the government's offer, which is based on the market price in mid-April.

Talks between the two parties will continue in the next couple of days but the sources said a breakthrough is unlikely.

According to their agreement, if NWD and the Housing Authority fail to agree on the premium by the end of next month, the authority will have to repurchase the project for HK$1.441 billion.

Centaline Surveyors managing director Victor Lai said the authority is most likely to buy back the project due to political pressure.

The government has been strongly criticised for selling the 2,470-unit Hung Hom Peninsula to a Sung Hung Kai Properties, NWD joint venture for only HK$864 million in premium payment earlier this year.

``This time, the government is taking a firm stance on negotiations over the premium in the Ngau Chi Wan project partly because of political pressure,'' Lai said.

He said a realistic premium would be between HK$1,600 and HK$1,700 psf, based on prevailing price levels of more than HK$3,000 psf for second-hand flats in the district.

Spokesmen for the Housing Authority and NWD declined to comment.

2. Fund picks out eight sustainable projects
MARTIN WONG, SCMP 7 May 2004

Ecological tours across Peng Chau, turning Aberdeen into a green paradise and enhancing historical buildings' economic benefits are among the eight projects supported by the government under a $100 million fund to promote sustainable development in Hong Kong.

The fund, established in mid-2003 under the initiative of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, aims at promoting public understanding and discussion of sustainable development.

It is available to non-government organisations, individuals and schools over a 10-year period.

Projects sponsored by the scheme must be one-off projects that do not need ongoing financial commitment.

All projects should be non-profit making and any proceeds should be ploughed back in to help further the aims of the programme.

Christian Fang Meng-sang, chair of the Education and Publicity Subcommittee, which approved the funding, said yesterday 127 proposals were received in the first round of applications.

Eight projects, totalling $7.75 million, with individual amounts ranging from $230,000 to $1.52 million, were selected.

"The eight selected projects are educational, promotional and training in nature. They are targeted at young people and the local community, and will last from 12 to 36 months," she said.

Progress of the eight projects will be closely monitored to see if they can be carried out according to the schedules and financial conditions that they signed to with the government.

The second round of applications for the fund will open next month.

Sunnie Chan Lit-fong, who was awarded $1.52 million for a two-year project, said she would use the funding to help educate the public on the need to conserve the natural and cultural heritages of Peng Chau.

"In one of our many projects, guides will be hired to offer ecological tours to visitors to Peng Chau," she said. "It not only offers job opportunities to residents but also enables more Hong Kong people to get to know the rich biodiversity of the island."

3. Draft Mong Kok Outline Zoning Plan amended
Hong Kong Government, 7 May 2004

The Town Planning Board today (May 7) announced amendments to the draft Mong Kok Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

The amendments mainly involve the rezoning of a completed residential development, Metro Harbour View, at Fuk Lee Street from "Comprehensive Development Area" to "Residential (Group A)1" ("R(A)1"), and two other sites, one at Tit Shu Street and one at Lai Chi Kok Road, from "Government, Institution or Community" to "R(A)" to reflect their existing uses.

The site at the junction of Lai Chi Kok Road and Tong Mi Road where the Lui Seng Chun building stands is rezoned from "R(A)" to "Other Specified Uses" ("OU") annotated "Historical Site Preserved for Commercial and Cultural Uses".

In connection with some of the above amendments, the Notes of the OZP have been revised by incorporating the development restrictions for the "R(A)1" zone and adding a set of Notes for the "OU" annotated "Historical Site Preserved for Commercial and Cultural Uses" zone.

Opportunity has also been taken in making general revision to the Notes of the OZP to reflect the latest refinement to a revised set of Master Schedule of Notes to Statutory Plans endorsed by the Town Planning Board.

The draft Mong Kok OZP No. S/K3/21 incorporating the amendments is now available for public inspection during normal office hours at the following locations:

* Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, 15/F, North Point Government Offices, 333 Java Road;

* Tsuen Wan and West Kowloon District Planning Office, 27/F, Tsuen Wan Government Offices, 38 Sai Lau Kok Road; and

* Yau Tsim Mong District Office, G/F, Mong Kok Government Offices, 30 Luen Wan Street.

Any person affected by the amendments can submit a written objection to the Secretary of the Town Planning Board on or before May 28, 2004.

Copies of the draft plan are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the plan is viewable from the Town Planning Board's website at http://www.info.gov.hk/tpb.

4. Harbour committee weighs up three tunnel options for easing congestion
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 7 May 2004

The Harbourfront Enhancement Committee discusses the options at its first meeting in Edinburgh Place, Central, yesterday. Picture by David Wong

A section of the Eastern Corridor would have to be demolished if Hong Kong adopted a long underwater tunnel to solve traffic congestion in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, members of the Harbourfront Enhancement Advisory Committee were told yesterday.

The idea was one of three options presented by the government to the committee as it held its first meeting.

The government committee was announced on March 9 after the High Court gave the green light to the Central Reclamation project. The 29-member body will advise the government on planning land use, design and development issues over the waterfront.

The options were proposed in response to a request last November by the Town Planning Board for the government to conduct a comprehensive review of the Wan Chai North reclamation plan. An earlier High Court judgment ruled the reclamation project would breach the Harbour Ordinance.

The original plan involved reclaiming 26 hectares of land but the government now has to operate under the principle of "no or minimum reclamation".

The first option presented yesterday is to build an underwater tunnel to link the proposed underground Central-Wan Chai bypass and the Eastern Corridor.

This would mean a large section of the corridor would have to be demolished, said Ma Lee-tak, project manager of the Territorial Development Department, after yesterday's meeting.

The underwater tunnel would emerge close to a residential compound - Harbour Heights, in Tin Hau - which would be some distance past the start of the corridor in Causeway Bay.

But Mr Ma said it was too early to say how much of the corridor would have to be pulled down and how much land would be reclaimed under this plan.

But the second option, also an underwater tunnel linking the Central-Wan Chai Bypass, would emerge at the cargo handling area near the Cross-Harbour Tunnel in Causeway Bay. A flyover would be above the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and connect with the Eastern Corridor.

Mr Ma said: "Reclamation is needed in the plan and part of the corridor will be demolished. But with the land created by reclamation, we can do some harbourfront beautification works."

The last option is to have the underwater tunnel emerge at the cargo handling area and link with a new road leading to the corridor.

"Among the three options, this one will have the most extensive reclamation works," Mr Ma said.

He said more details would emerge two months after a consultant conducted further studies.

5. Two projects secure approval for flat sale
PEGGY SITO, SCMP 7 May 2004

The Lands Department last month consented to the sale of two residential projects owned by Hang Lung Properties and PCCW Infrastructure involving more than 1,900 flats.

However, agents said the approval was unlikely to cause an immediate supply impact on the housing market as Hang Lung would defer the sales schedule of its 1,616-unit AquaMarine project in West Kowloon due to the upbeat outlook of the housing sector over the next two years.

The Hang Lung project will be completed next month. Centaline Property Agency senior sales manager Kenneth Lam Wai-man said Hang Lung planned to put on hold the sale of AquaMarine until next year as the developer expected prices would continue to surge.

The developer had planned to start selling the units this year, but Mr Lam said Hang Lung wanted to gradually dispose of projects to maximise profits.

The company might launch other completed projects such as the 188-unit Camel-on-the-Hill in Homantin this year, he said.

Hang Lung was unavailable for comment yesterday.

PCCW Infrastructure said it started selling the 300 units at its Bel-Air on the Peak at Cyberport last month, when it received the sales consent from the Lands Department.

It has already sold more than 160 flats at an average price of $10,000 per square foot. The project is due to be completed in December next year.

Major projects to be sold over the next two months include a residential project in Farm Road, Ma Tau Wai, and the 1,446-flat Park Island Phase Three in Ma Wan. Both are owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties.