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1. Dengue alert raised as mosquito numbers soar at seven locations
PATSY MOY, SCMP 22 May 2004

Health experts have raised the alarm over the risk of a dengue fever outbreak at seven locations found to have high levels of potentially disease-carrying mosquitoes.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it would step up inspections and prosecutions of those responsible for the accumulation of stagnant water, where mosquitoes breed, in high-risk districts.

The areas identified yesterday were Aberdeen, central Kwun Tong, Tseung Kwan O, Tai Po north, Fanling, Sheung Shui and Yuen Kong village in Kam Tin. They all recorded scores on the so-called ovitrap index of more than 40 per cent, putting regions in the high-risk category. The index is based on the number of adult Aedes albopictus mosquitoes caught in traps.

The ovitrap measurements were taken this month and last month. Four of the districts - Aberdeen, central Kwun Tong, Fanling and Sheung Shui - recorded their highest levels on the index since testing began in 2000.

A consultant for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Ho Yuk-yin, warned that Hong Kong was surrounded by countries besieged by dengue fever - with more than 58,000 cases in Indonesia, 5,300 in Vietnam, 560 in Singapore and nearly 400 in the Philippines this year.

Dr Ho said only three districts in Hong Kong last year exceeded the 40 per cent level. "We are alarmed by the drastic surge in the indices. It would put Hong Kong at a risk of dengue fever if we do not step up the anti-mosquito measures now," he said.

"We believe that littering is one of the major causes for the growth of mosquitoes as garbage blocks the sewers and stagnant water creates favourable conditions for the growth of mosquitoes."

Hong Kong recorded 49 dengue fever cases last year, with 48 imported from overseas and one local case.

Patients who have dengue fever show symptoms of fever, joint and muscle pain and rashes.

The incubation period lasts for between three and 14 days. Severe cases of fever can cause excessive bleeding and death.

The Wan Chai Market played a key role in the defence of Hong Kong in 1941 as soldiers tried to stop the Japanese reaching Central. Picture by David Wong

The Wan Chai Market building is one of the few war relics left in the city and it would be inexcusable for the government to allow its demolition, a historian said yesterday.

Not only is the market building a valuable specimen of 1930s architecture, but it also had a key position in the 1941 defence of Hong Kong.

Tony Banham, an amateur historian specialising in Hong Kong's military history, said the market played a crucial role in the defence of Central.

"For about eight to 10 hours before Hong Kong surrendered, the Wan Chai Market was at the front line of fighting, defending Central from falling into Japanese hands," he said.

"A mixed bag of gunners, Hong Kong Volunteers and the Middlesex regiment held the position in an attempt to prevent the Japanese from reaching Central along Kennedy Road.

"At one point, they had an 18-pounder gun blasting at the Japanese attempting ingress through the air raid shelters under Mount Parish."

The market building is scheduled to be pulled down in 2006 to make way for a redevelopment project owned by Chinese Estates Holdings.

Both the Antiquities and Monuments Office and the Town Planning Board have endorsed the redevelopment plan.

But architects believe it is one of only two well-preserved market buildings in the Bauhaus style left in the world, so they have launched a campaign to save the building.

Banham is the author of a book titled Not the Slightest Chance - the Defence of Hong Kong, 1941, published by the Hong Kong University Press. He also runs a website, www.hongkongwardiary.com.

"This is a building of international architectural significance, a concrete reminder of one of the darkest periods in our history, and it still superbly performs the service to our community that it was designed for nearly 70 years ago."

He added that the market was one of the few war relics left in the metropolitan area.

The site of Sun Hung Kai Properties' luxury apartment complex, the Leighton Hill, and the hillside which houses the Hopewell Centre were also key defence points against the Japanese in 1941.

"But they're gone and [have been] replaced by high-rises. There aren't many places left to tell the children and the tourists the war story of Hong Kong.

The two agencies behind the redevelopment of Wedding Card Street in Wan Chai betrayed a promise made last year to protect the street, a district councillor said yesterday.

Sources have confirmed that the Town Planning Board set the preservation of the street's character as a condition when it approved the redevelopment in September. The Planning Department promised to work closely with the Urban Renewal Authority to ensure that.

Both the department and the authority admit they made the promise at a meeting on September 13. Minutes from the meeting confirm this.

However, the URA plans to demolish the existing buildings to make way for a $3.58 billion project to change the area into a leisure, shopping, residential and commercial precinct. The plan has raised the ire of residents, businesspeople, architects and politicians.

Ada Wong Ying-kay, chairwoman of the Wan Chai District Council, said the plan amounted to a betrayal of their promise.

She and other concerned parties question the logic behind bulldozing what is a well-maintained and prosperous street. Wedding Card Street is the local name for Lee Tung Street. It is home to 20 printing shops specialising in wedding invitations.

"What sort of local character will there be when there are no more print shops on the street?" Ms Wong asked. "If they were genuine about preserving local character, their approach would have been different and they would not have tried every means possible to persuade residents and merchants to move out.

Fifty one per cent of the 647 properties in the area have been given up to the authority.

When asked what they had done to ensure that the character of the street would be preserved, both cited a design concept competition announced last November.

While preservation is mentioned in the preamble to the competition documents, the only reference to it in the actual design brief is a request for participants to consider efforts to "recreate the shopping street character".

Last week, some 30 residents stormed the authority's headquarters in Sheung Wan to protest against the redevelopment plan.

Meanwhile, the authority invoked the Lands Resumption Ordinance on eight properties in Queen's Road East, over a high-rise project.
Eighteen property owners were affected by the redevelopment. Twelve of them have sold their properties to the authority.

4. Wu threatens court bid to ban hearing
Staff reporter and Bloomberg, The Standard 22 May 2004

Hopewell Holdings chairman Gordon Wu has threatened to seek a court injunction to ban a hearing at the Planning Department next month to change the approved plan on the company's Mega Tower hotel project.

Eight residents in the neighbourhood of Hopewell's planned Wan Chai hotel have scheduled a hearing with the Planning Department on June 27, hoping to have the plot ratio cut to five from 15 times. A lower plot ratio means the floor area the developer can build at the site will be reduced.

``The proposed change should not be regarded as a fait accompli,'' Wu said at a Wan Chai district council meeting last night.

Wu said as the Town Planning Board has approved a plot ratio of 15 times, any change on the zoning required approval from the Executive Council and Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. Wan Chai residents have been trying to sway the board to impose height and size restrictions on the proposed hotel - to be sandwiched between Queen's Road East and Kennedy Road - since early April.

The board last month rejected the blueprint for the hotel, saying the ``fan-shaped'' structure would spoil the view of many tenants and worsen congestion on Kennedy Road. Hopewell has scheduled to meet the board on July 23 to appeal against the decision.

Many analysts have expected Wu to scrap his mega-hotel ambitions if prohibitive restrictions are imposed.

Over the past two decades, Hopewell has spent more than HK$600 million to acquire piecemeal all the 26 individual land lots within the site. This land cost is included in the HK$4 billion budgeted for the project.

Meanwhile, Hopewell Holdings said it may re-enter China's power industry in the next 12 months - having exited that market eight years ago. The company confirmed it has just signed a memorandum of understanding with a domestic partner on construction of two 600,000-kilowatt coal-fired power plants in Heyuan city, Guangdong province.

``We hope that within the next 12 months, something concrete is going to happen,'' Wu said. ``We're seriously looking at several options. It would be more advantageous to do a joint venture.''

Media have reported that the two plants would involve a total investment of about 5.3 billion yuan (HK$4.99 billion).

5. Government strictly follows procedures for planning applications
Hong Kong Government, 22 May 2004

In response to media enquiries about a rezoning request relating to the MegaTower hotel development site in Wan Chai, a spokesman for the Planning Department said today (May 22) the request is being processed in line with the Town Planning Board's long-standing practice.

Under existing practice, the Town Planning Board will consider a rezoning request within three months upon receiving it. When considering a rezoning request, the Board will take into account the comments from relevant government departments and the public views channeled through the District Officer.

The Board has processed over 1,130 rezoning requests involving various statutory town plans over the last 15 years, the spokesman said.

"The existing procedure is that if a request is accepted, the Board will, in the case of an approved plan, make a request to the Chief Executive in Council to refer the plan back to the Board for amendment. Upon reference back, the amended plan will be gazetted for public inspection and objection according to the Town Planning Ordinance."

"At this stage, the Board has yet to consider whether or not to accept the request," he said.

In the case of the MegaTower hotel project, the Board received a rezoning request in March 29, 2004 and will consider it on June 25, 2004 according to the three-month practice.

The spokesman also noted an application by the developer to review the Board's earlier decision on the project will be heard by the Board on July 23, 2004.

"In processing the rezoning request and the application for a review of the Board's decision of the MegaTower hotel project, the established procedures will be strictly adhered to."

"All views received on the rezoning request and the application for review will be reported to the Board for consideration and decision on the merits of the case," the spokesman said.

6. Developers may go high in auction bids
Karen Chan, The Standard 22 May 2004

Developers may try to lift the housing market by bidding above-market price levels for two residential sites in Sha Tin and Ma On Shan, which go under the hammer tomorrow, an HSBC Securities analyst said.

Derek Cheung said ``developers may try to enhance housing market sentiment by bidding for sites but hope they will not be the last bidder.

This could generate some short-term excitement in the stock market, but would not be sustainable.''

``Since developers can apply for sites on the reserve list to be auctioned, or seek conversion of agricultural sites into residential use at market prices, it doesn't make sense to buy at above-market prices,'' he said.

But Cheung said that bidding is unlikely to be active even though it will be the first land auction since the land sale moratorium in November 2002.

``While many developers are likely to attend, we do not expect bidding at the auction to be active,'' he said.

Moreover, developers can also buy at market prices from MTR Corp, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp and the Urban Renewal Authority.

Cheung said the recent deterioration in housing market sentiment has made developers more cautious.

``While we expect medium-sized developers, including Sino Land, K Wah International, Kowloon Development and Chinese Estates Holdings, to be keen on bidding for the sites due to their depleted land banks, large developers with stakes in nearby projects may also be interested,'' Ho said.

The auction will be seen as a barometer of developer sentiment amid speculations of interest rate rises, worries over the mainland's economic tightening as well as recent price cuts in the primary market.

``We expect keen interest from developers with final bid prices some 16 per cent to 17 per cent above the opening bid prices,'' Ho said.

The Ma On Shan site has a full seaview and is next to K Wah's La Costa and Sino Land's Villa Oceania.

Most major developers including Cheung Kong (Holdings), Henderson Land Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Sino Land and Nan Fung Development already have exposure to this area.

At a 14 per cent profit margin based on the current selling price of HK$43,600 per square foot, BOC International expects the site to be sold for HK$1.43 billion, or an accommodation value of HK$1,897 psf.

The Sha Tin site is close to Sun Hung Kai Properties' Pristine Villa. Ho said higher construction costs may be incurred due to spending on green areas and infrastructure for this site.

At a selling price of HK$4,000 psf with a 10 per cent profit margin, BOC International expects the site to fetch HK$555 million, or an accommodation value of HK$2,109 psf.

7. Sino Land seeks allies in projects
Raymond Wang, The Standard 22 May 2004

With a war chest of HK$11 billion, Sino Land says it is looking for partners to help replenish its land bank through tenders and auctions to be held in the next few weeks.

Among other possibilities, Sino Land is said to be considering joining consortiums tendering for the estimated HK$24 billion West Kowloon cultural hub project.

It is also expected to team up with other developers to jointly bid for two government residential plots in Sha Tin and Ma On Shan to be auctioned next week.

And a Sino Land spokeswoman said the company is considering whether to submit an expression of interest for an urban renewal project in Tai Kok Tsui after linking up with Manhattan Garments (International) to submit a tender for the HK$1 billion urban renewal project in Wan Chai last week.

Developers have been invited to bid for the HK$1 billion redevelopment project in Tai Kok Tsui, the third launched by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) this year. Submissions will close next Friday.

Sino Land's gearing ratio has dropped from 28.5 per cent to 21.5 per cent its HK$1.5 billion convertible notes were fully exercised last month.

The company has around HK$3 billion of cash in hand, and together with credit lines it has HK$11 billion in its war chest.

Sino Land chairman Robert Ng is the latest tycoon to bet on the market, having invested more than HK$10 billion in the past two years.

The company shelled out more than HK$3 billion to secure three residential projects in Hong Kong and on the mainland last month.

Those projects include a joint development contract for an urban renewal project in Yeung Uk Road, Tsuen Wan, and one each in Shenzhen and Sichuan.

Bids for the 40-hectare West Kowloon cultural development close next month and at least 11 individual companies or groups are understood to have expressed interest in tendering.

Among them are Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Holdings, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Henderson Land. Sun Hung Kai is believed to be in talks with Cheung Kong for a possible joint-venture bid.