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1. Land auction complaints rejected

2. Fung shui at Tamar site is bad, warn activists

1. Land auction complaints rejected
AMBROSE LEUNG , SCMP 20 May 2006

The chief executive dismissed property developers' complaints that it was difficult to trigger land auctions, saying they were just making excuses for failing to lodge bids high enough to meet government valuations.

Developers complain officials have been less willing to approve land sales since the controversy broke last year over the granting of bonus space to Henderson Land for the Grand Promenade development in Sai Wan Ho.

Donald Tsang Yam-kuen told listeners to a radio phone-in show that the problem lay with developers who did not want to meet the asking price for sites.

"Property developers of course have their own theories, but when they fail to trigger a land auction, they blame us for holding too firm on the price ... We cannot sell land cheaply," Mr Tsang said.

He said the system of having developers lodge bids for sites on the government's land application list in the hope of triggering auctions involved interaction between officials and developers, rather than unilateral decisions by one side or the other.

Addressing the introduction of a five-day week for civil servants, Mr Tsang said the principle was that it should not affect government services.

Asked whether some departments might have difficulties shortening their service hours, Mr Tsang said if it proved impossible they would resume working a half-day on Saturdays.

he chief executive joked that while frontline and lower-ranking civil servants might get more free time with their families, the five-day week would not apply to him or his ministers. "There [are no] weekends in our job," he said.

2. Fung shui at Tamar site is bad, warn activists
CHLOE LAI , SCMP 20 May 2006

The fung shui at the Central Government Offices is far better than at the Tamar site and moving the headquarters to a spot with poor fung shui could dent people's confidence in the government, a report by activist group Save Our Shorelines says.

The report, based on questions relating to the relocation of the government's headquarters to the Tamar site, was presented to officials yesterday.

It warns that moving the headquarters to Tamar and selling the Central Government Offices' land to the private sector may create public uncertainty in governance.

"The Government Hill represents the classic geomantic form with the government [offices] and Government House centrally located on a prominent rise with a mountain behind, a green dragon [the Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware] in the east and a white tiger [the Central Police Station] in the west and the curve of the bay below," it says.

But Tamar was on reclaimed land, which was "unstable" in fung shui terms and had none of the natural supporting elements.

Tamar's proximity to the water is also considered bad, as the reclamation narrows the harbour, speeding the flow of water past the new site and symbolically washing away the good influences.

"[By selling] the most geomantically strong land ... the government will lose any fung shui advantage it has. Public uncertainty in governance may be created as a result."