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1. Town Planning Board clarifies why consideration of rezoning requests has been deferred

2. Disco Bay fiasco won't be repeated

3. Tsang gives an assurance on Discovery Bay fiasco

4. Gas terminal to cost up to $6b

1. Town Planning Board clarifies why consideration of rezoning requests has been deferred
Hong Kong Government, 18 May 2005

In response to media enquiries about the press conference held by the Society for Protection of the Harbour Limited (SPH), Save our Shorelines (SOS) and Clear the Air today (May 18) on the processing of their rezoning requests, the Town Planning Board (the Board) wishes to clarify some misunderstandings of the three organisations.

The spokesman emphasised that the processing of the three rezoning requests followed the board's established procedures and the board had no intention to delay consideration of the requests as alleged by the proponents.   

According to the board's established practice, rezoning requests are submitted to the board for consideration about three months after receipt of such requests or after receipt of further information from the proponents.  

"SPH and SOS submitted their rezoning requests in September and October, 2004, respectively, proposing to reduce the reclamation extent and amendments to various zonings on the Central District (Extension) Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).  During the processing of the two requests, both organisations submitted further information to address various issues raised by the relevant government departments," a board spokesman said.  

"Clear the Air also submitted in February, 2005, a request for amendment to the Central District (Extension) OZP and the Wan Chai North OZP by deleting the reclamation proposed under the Wan Chai Development Phase II from the two plans.  As the three rezoning requests were all related to the reclamation extent and the proposed Central-Wanchai Bypass, the board on April 8 agreed to consider the three requests together at the same meeting," the spokesman added.

The original date scheduled for submission of the three rezoning requests to the board was May 20, 2005, which would be within three months from receipt of Clear the Air's request and the further information last submitted by SPH and SOS in late February, 2005.  However, SPH requested last week that the chairperson of the board should declare an interest in its rezoning request and exclude herself from the consideration of the request.  

2. Disco Bay fiasco won't be repeated
Michael Ng, The Standard 19 May 2005

The Discovery Bay project deviated from its original 1976 concept of a holiday resort and residential and commercial development to grow into a first-home community, without planning approval. STAFF PHOTO

Another Discovery Bay type fiasco - in which land designated for one purpose is used for another - is unlikely, given the increasing maturity and transparency in town planning, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang said Wednesday.

He was responding to a report by the Legislative Council Public Accounts Committee, which stated that the project had deviated from its original 1976 concept of a holiday resort and residential and commercial development to grow into a first-home community, without the approval of the then Executive Council.

"Whether the then land authority should have judged the changes of the development at Discovery Bay as representing a fundamental change from the original concept and submitted them to the then Executive Council for endorsement is a matter of interpretation,'' Tsang told Legco.

To remedy the matter, Tsang said the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau had already sought Exco's endorsement for what had taken place in the Discovery Bay development.

"As our town-planning system has become mature, with a clear process for preparing statutory plans and channels for hearing public views, and as a system of enhanced accountability and transparency is now in place, it is unlikely that the experience of the Discovery Bay development will recur elsewhere,'' he said.

He noted that the Lands Department has already implemented active steps, as suggested by the Public Accounts Committee, to deal with the land encroachment problem.

According to the report, the Lands Department has not yet set up the boundaries of the Discovery Bay site, even though an adjoining 41,200 square meter government site has been occupied without authorization for more than 20 years.

This mistake, along with the unapproved amendment in the Discovery Bay development concept, has cost the government HK$160 million in lost potential revenue from uncharged land premiums, the audit commission report revealed last October.

But no penalties have been imposed on the developer, HKR International.

In January, former Chief Secretary for Administration Sir David Akers-Jones, who was also Secretary for the New Territories during the 1970s, revealed that the government of the day had allowed the developers to change the project's concept because it was concerned that the land could fall into the hands of a Moscow bank controlled by the former Soviet Union.

Singaporean businessman Edward Wong, the original landlord for the Discovery Bay development, had primarily intended to develop the area into a resort, with financing to be provided by several banks, including the Moscow Narodny Bank (MNB).

But when Wong went bankrupt in 1973, the Lantau project was put into liquidation and all local investors withdrew.

MNB, which had lent Wong HK$1.6 billion, sued him for payment in bankruptcy proceedings before the High Court, claiming ownership over his company, Hong Kong Resorts.

3. Tsang gives an assurance on Discovery Bay fiasco
JIMMY CHEUNG , SCMP 19 May 2005

The development fiasco at Discovery Bay two decades ago could not happen under present town planning rules, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said yesterday.

The acting chief executive said he was not totally convinced that the Lands Department at the time should have sought the Executive Council's endorsement for changes to land use.

The Lands Department has since been criticised for not getting Exco's approval when it changed the project from recreational to residential in the 1980s.

Mr Tsang was addressing the Legislative Council in his capacity of chief secretary, in response to its criticism of the way the Discovery Bay development was handled.

"It's a matter of interpretation," he said, referring to the lease conditions at the time. They vested the Lands Department with the legal clout to deal with changes, he said.

Mr Tsang said town planning was now a more mature process, governed by clear and open statutory measures.

4. Gas terminal to cost up to $6b
CHEUNG CHI-FAI , SCMP 19 May 2005

The proposed liquefied natural gas terminal will cost CLP Power up to $6.5 billion to build, the electricity supplier revealed yesterday.

But it said it was too early to speculate on how the massive investment would affect or be affected by the continuing review of the power sector's regulatory regime.

The terminal, to be built either on South Soko Island or at Black Point, will serve to replace the gas supply for power generation from the shrinking reserve in Hainan.

The facility is expected to be completed by 2011.

Environmental impact studies on the two sites are being conducted.

CLP Holdings commercial director Richard Lancaster said the terminal would cost $4 billion to $6.5 billion. If Soko Island is chosen, 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the estimated cost will be spent on a 40km underwater pipeline.

Mr Lancaster said a quick start to the project was needed if the city wanted to use more gas for power generation in the medium term as its Hainan gas supply diminishes.

"If the facility could be completed earlier, we could take the gas [from Hainan] at a faster pace," he said, without offering details on the remaining gas stock.

The power supplier cut its gas intake drastically in 2003 after it found the reserve was smaller than previously anticipated.

Although CLP Power has pledged it would "significantly increase" the use of gas for power generation once the new facility was constructed, it has so far declined to disclose how that could be achieved.