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1. Urban renewal chief lays out plans

2. 'Why must everything look like a wet market?'

3. Design and build drive for road contracts

4. Savings built with alliances

5. MTRC renews $6b funds call for new lines

6. 300,000 a day expected to use new MTR Island lines

1. Urban renewal chief lays out plans
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 25 May 2004

Reviving slum areas to improve the environment and attract investment will be the Urban Renewal Authority's goal in the next three years, new chairman Edward Cheng Wai-sun said yesterday.

Mr Cheng, who took up the post three weeks ago, cited the redevelopment of Russell Street in Causeway Bay as an illustration of his approach to urban renewal.

"Russell Street used to be very rundown, but now it is a very lively, busy street full of shops and people. The spillover from Times Square has revitalised the street," he said.

He said the authority would use a similar approach to ageing districts, such as Mongkok, Kwun Tong and Wan Chai.

"The most important thing is confidence. If we can demonstrate to the public and the business community that this model works, we will have their support and investment," he said.

"The authority has limited resources. It does not have enough to revitalise all the rundown areas. But it is enough for us to kick-start [the process].

"So we have to be more focused and let the spillover effect of those redeveloped districts bring life and investment into the ageing neighbourhood."

But Mr Cheng said the authority had a social responsibility to redevelop urban slums with little commercial value, such as Shamshuipo.

"It is our social responsibility to improve the environment of those who live there," he said.

The authority was set up three years ago to implement 225 redevelopment projects over 20 years.

The authority is also responsible for rehabilitating old but serviceable buildings, preserving historic structures and revitalising old neighbourhoods.

2. 'Why must everything look like a wet market?'
JOSEPH LO, SCMP 25 May 2004

An artist's impression of the proposed new bus terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui East, which the Tourism Board's Selina Chow described as "terrible".

Redeveloping the Tsim Sha Tsui harbour promenade risks destroying one of Hong Kong's top stops for visitors, Tourism Board chairwoman Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee warned yesterday, after she and fellow legislators were given detailed proposals.

"Looking at the artists' impressions, it looks like a wet market. Why does everything we do look like a wet market?" she said.

"In the past, we have always said, `okay, the government's building it, so it's going to be less than beautiful'. But if the point is to beautify Tsim Sha Tsui, then we must do better."

The Economic Development and Labour Bureau presented draft proposals for the $242 million redevelopment, under which the bus terminal adjoining the Star Ferry pier would be moved to Tsim Sha Tsui East and the site turned into a plaza, with footbridges and a podium garden connecting the pier and the new terminal adjoining the Wing On Plaza Garden.

The Star Ferry taxi stand would be moved to Canton Road and parking bays for tour coaches and shuttle buses moved beyond the proposed plaza to an area outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. New bus stops would be put in at the bottom of Canton Road and a high-frequency shuttle bus would run to and from the new bus terminus.

Tourism Bureau staff, led by Permanent Secretary for Economic Development Sandra Lee Suk-yee, told the Legislative Council's economic services panel the redevelopment would improve pedestrian circulation and enhance Tsim Sha Tsui as a popular and prominent tourist district.

But Mrs Chow said the government's design was terrible and risked damaging tourism by "uglifying" one of the city's most important tourist spots. The government hopes that construction of the plaza and the pedestrian links will begin in September, for completion in April 2006.

Mrs Chow said the government should have learned its lesson from the design of the Cultural Centre, which she said had been criticised in the past as having no significant architectural qualities.

"[The design of the Cultural Centre] is not timeless, it's not beautiful. But no lessons seem to have been learned," she said.

The legislator also criticised the lack of escalators on the proposed footbridge linking the promenade with the new bus terminal.

"Even wet markets have escalators nowadays," Mrs Chow said.

Democratic Party legislator Sin Chung-kai said his party supported the redevelopment but agreed with other legislators that more design work needed to be done before the project went ahead.

The legislator representing the transport sector, Miriam Lau Kin-yee, voiced concern that transport interest groups had not been properly consulted.

"Has government consulted the taxi trade? I'm concerned about whether the taxis will protest over having their stand moved" to Canton Road, Ms Lau said.

3. Design and build drive for road contracts
Keith Wallis, The Standard 25 May 2004

The Highways Department is overhauling the way it procures construction projects with a stronger focus on design and build and public-private partnership deals, according to Director of Highways Mak Chai-kwong.

Speaking at a seminar on Friday organised by the Lighthouse Club construction charity, he said the department has just awarded a pilot public-private partnership road maintenance contract covering high-speed roads in the north-west New Territories.

He said the department would review the progress of the contract at the end of this year with a view to extending the concept to other road maintenance projects.

According to Mak, the department usually spends about HK$800 million a year on its road maintenance programme, which is split between 12 contracts.

Now, he wants to combine and lengthen the contracts and envisages seven to eight deals lasting five to eight years.

Aside from offering better value for money, Mak said, ``more importantly it would establish a new culture'' where contractors would be expected to use their own staff and equipment rather than use multiple layers of subcontractors.

``We're adopting more design and build contracts'', which enables contractors to have early involvement in a project, making it easier to tackle problems and find solutions.

Mak said a feasibility study by Beijing's Highway Planning and Design Institute into plans for the Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge would be completed by the end of this year or early in the next. The plan awaits State Council's approval.

He said the Highways Department had set up at project management office to oversee Hong Kong's contribution to the project.

Turning to the Central-Wan Chai bypass, part of the controversial Central and Wan Chai reclamation projects, Mak was confident the highway would be implemented.

``We're thinking of doing it in two stages,'' he said.

On a general note, Mak said the department has drafted several measures to reduce conflict in construction.

These include post-contract partnering, now a norm on all major projects, and identifying problems early on in the construction process.

Mak said that overall the department is the ``big spender'' among government departments with HK$45 billion earmarked for projects between 2003 and 2008, or an average of HK$9 billion a year.

4. Savings built with alliances
Danny Chung and Keith Wallis

Hong Kong's construction industry is realising there is a better way to building and completing projects than the traditional adversarial relationship between client, contractor, professional team and subcontractors.

As more than 100 construction specialists heard last Friday the shift towards a more collaborative way of working is not always easy, but it is producing positive results on both road and rail projects.

The group, including representatives from contractors, consultants, clients, insurers, lawyers and academia, attended a seminar organised by the Lighthouse Club construction charity.

Outlining the changes being made by the MTR Corp, probably Hong Kong's most enlightened client, Kumagai Gumi deputy regional general manager Russell Jones said savings of between HK$5 million-HK$10 million had been achieved on a project in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The HK$300 million scheme involves modifications to Tsim Sha Tsui station to help connect with pedestrian subway links being built by the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation as part of its East Rail extensions.

MTR Corp procurement and contracts manager Martin Dunn said the extensive project requirements coupled with the tight construction deadline meant both MTR Corp and Kumagai Gumi agreed ``that innovation and initiative were going to play an important roll''.

He added: ``The objective required the best overall solution, not the optimum for Kumagai or MTR, but the best overall solution taking due cognisance of time, quality, safety, budget and environment, all of which pulled as counter forces to each other''.

The balance was achieved by ``engineering out all unnecessary costs while issues such as maintainability, life-cycle costing, constructability, logistics of ordering, installation and delivery were all factors that needed consideration''.

Dunn pointed out that the project was awarded as a target cost contract, so that any savings were shared equally between MTR Corp and Kumagai Gumi or with Kumagai Gumi and its electrical and mechanical (E&M) contractor, Balfour Beatty. Equally any overruns were split the same way.

Dunn said Kumagai Gumi ``was paid a not unsubstantial sum ... in line with the target obligation for August last year'' and a further payout ``again quite substantial'' is forecast for this August.

There were also savings on the E&M works, which have so far generated HK$1.1 million in cost reductions, equivalent to 2.23 per cent of the contract value. Work is also up to six weeks ahead of programme.

Jones said that overall there are expected to be total savings of HK$15 million on the whole project which is expected to be completed six weeks early.

``We have achieved a 5 per cent saving on cost on one of the most technically demanding jobs in Hong Kong.''

A similar enlightened approach is being taken by Spanish main contractor Necso Entrecanales Cubiertas and subcontract partner VSL on the construction of the Lai Chi Kok viaduct, part of the Route 8 highway between Tsing Yi and Sha Tin.

Necso general manager Robert Park said the alliancing approach taken by the firms was more of an ``enlightened partnership of equals. The impetus for this - is that that there must be a better way of working - anything cannot be worse than the traditional approach. Alliancing in various forms has been around for some time and is in effect - partnering in its ultimate form''.

He said alliancing was ``basically about people working together for a shared objective. You remove all the confrontational aspects from a traditional subcontract''.

Outlining the preparations before the alliance was agreed, Park said the main contractor and subcontractor defined the scope of work that would be undertaken to an agreed target cost estimate.

Staff from the main contractor and subcontractor plus an outside expert formed the alliance team that was based in a single project office instead of the traditional approach of individual firms using separate site cabins.

``The alliance agreement is a fairly simple document - easily understood and is not like a normal contract,'' Park said.

Cost savings are shared between Necso and VSL with a portion going to the alliance team. Any increase is shared between the Necso and VSL.

A key feature of the arrangement was the open book set up where ``all correspondence is shared'' throughout the life of the project. ``Everything is entirely open,'' Park said.

``VSL members of the alliance have the same rights of access to the correspondence databases, as do Necso members,'' VSL Intrafor Asia Pacific chief executive Andrew Payne said.

Common office services and support would also be shared. Other benefits included reduced correspondence, the establishment of a long term relationship and common interests, Park said.

James Blake, former Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation senior direct capital works and now a consultant for the rail company, said: ``I don't see why an alliancing approach with the [public] employer should not be feasible in Hong Kong.''

5. MTRC renews $6b funds call for new lines
Staff reporter, The Standard 25 May 2004

The MTR Corporation has warned again that its proposed HK$15 billion West and South Island lines will be scrapped if the government refuses to fund about half the cost.

It says the financing can take the form of an cash injection of nearly HK$6 billion, coupled with the MTR being granted property development rights at Wong Chuk Hang station, with an estimated sales revenue of almost HK$1.5 billion.

MTR also said fare revenue of the new lines will range from HK$3.80 per passenger per trip to HK$6.80, far below HK$9.90 to HK$14.40 estimated by its rivals. It says the revenue will not be enough to finance the scheme, so it needs government assistance to cover the shortfall.

MTRC project director Russell Black told a media briefing that if the government decides not to provide financial support, the MTRC will have no alternative but to drop the project.

Property development rights on a five hectare site at Wong Chuk Hang terminus will comprise a residential and retail complex. The estimated property sales income represents almost 20 per cent of the total funding of HK$7.5 billion.

An Environment, Transport and Works department spokesman said the government has yet to decide on financing the new lines project, which is under study.

According to a feasibility study, the lines have a total length of about 7.5 kilometres. MTRC plans to run four-car units, which will be cheaper to operate than the high-capacity heavy units it uses on its existing network.

The Legislative Council's transport panel will discuss the rail links together with the Route 7 highway project on Friday after the government received the MTRC document last month.

Plans call for the extension of the Island Line from Sheung Wan to Sai Ying Pun, where it will connect with the West Island Line that will run in a tunnel around the western edge of Hong Kong Island to Wong Chuk Hang. New stations will be built at Sai Ying Pun, Wong Chuk Hang, University, Kennedy Town, Cyperport, Wah Fu and
Aberdeen. The MTR Corp is considering the possibility of building a station at Queen Mary hospital, although it expects less patronage.

The South Island Line will run from South Horizons to Admiralty and include stations at Lei Tung, Wong Chuk Hang, where an interchange will be built to link with the West Island Line and the Ocean Park.

The MTRC has put forward three route options between Ocean Park and Admiralty - a direct link, a route via Happy Valley, or via Happy Valley and Wan Chai.

Route 7, a highway alternative to the rail line, is hotly opposed by environmentalists.

6. 300,000 a day expected to use new MTR Island lines
JOSEPH LO, SCMP 25 May 2004

The MTRC expects about 300,000 passengers a day to use its new West Island and South Island lines, which it hopes to complete by 2010.

The Mass Transit Railway Corporation also said yesterday that it wanted to build flats in Wong Chuk Hang to help cover some of the construction costs for the projects.

Malcolm Gibson, MTR chief design manager, said about one-third of the two lines' passengers were expected to be cross-harbour commuters.

"About 400,000 people live in that area ... we expect them to take about 780,000 public transport journeys each day.

"Of that figure, we expect to get about 300,000 [journeys]," Mr Gibson said.

The two lines would form a loop, with the West Island line running between Sheung Wan through the Cyberport to Wong Chuk Hang, and the South Island line running from Admiralty through Wan Chai, Happy Valley or both to South Horizons. The two lines would connect at Wong Chuk Hang.

Project director Russell Black said the corporation had proposed to the government that the expected $15 billion construction and financing costs be partly subsidised by a housing development on top of a train depot at Wong Chuk Hang.