1 Group attacks high-rise plan for Mong Kok
Colleen Lee, SCMP, May 19, 2008
A green group has urged the Urban Renewal Authority to scrap a plan that includes high-rises in the redevelopment of an indoor sports centre in Mong Kok for fear it will cut ventilation in the area.
Last week the authority and the Hong Kong Playground Association, which owns Macpherson Indoor Stadium, invited 15 developers to submit tenders for the project.
The 26,000 sq ft site will feature an indoor stadium and youth centre plus about 206,000 sq ft of floor area for residential and commercial use.
Green Sense president Roy Tam Hoi-pong said the authority was going to tear down the current stadium, at the corner of Yim Po Fong Street and Nelson Street, and build two 24-storey residential blocks atop a redeveloped low-rise modern indoor stadium and shopping mall.
"It will affect the ventilation of the whole area ... Mong Kok is already packed with high-rises and poorly ventilated."
Mr Tam said the current low-rise stadium was useful because it provided a ventilation buffer zone in an area that was densely populated, but building towers would worsen ventilation and block light to surrounding low-rise buildings.
He was also worried that poor ventilation would affect the health of people exercising on the soccer field and basketball court at nearby Macpherson Playground.
"Langham Place in Mong Kok is already affecting ventilation in the area ... building more high-rise buildings will certainly worsen air quality."
He said the Playground Association should have sought funding from the government or approached the Jockey Club Charities Trust if it had been short of funding to rebuild its indoor stadium.
It should not have partnered with the URA to turn the site into high-rises, said Mr Tam, urging them to stop the tendering process.
The association and the authority could not be reached for comment last night.
Tender submissions will close at the end of the month.
The authority is also developing the area known as "Sneaker Street" in Mong Kok - including parts of Sai Yee Street, Nelson Street, Fa Yuen Street and Shantung Street - into a Sports Retail City offering a wide range of sports goods and sports-related services. It estimated in March that the total development cost of the Sneaker Street project was HK$4.56 billion, including acquisition expenses and rehousing.
According to the authority's figures, the cost of acquiring the properties - 175 flats and 38 shops - is about HK$3 billion.
2 Play-fair call over Mong Kok plan
Nishika Patel, The Standard, May 19, 2008
A green group wants to stop a just-revived, 17-year-old project to build two high-rise blocks and a shopping arcade in Mong Kok, claiming it will hamper air flow.
The Urban Renewal Authority in 1991 approved a plan that includes renovating the popular MacPherson playground.
Green Sense says the project, scrapped after a wrangle over the size of the shopping center, was revived last month. But it no longer complies with air-quality standards.
"This is an open area," said Green Sense chairman Roy Tam Hoi-ping. "The buildings will block air flow because Argyle Street brings the wind to Mong Kok."
The 1991 standards no longer apply to the project, now in the tendering process, Tam said. "Citizens are more concerned about air quality now. It's a time for change, and we cannot tolerate this type of development."
An auditorium at the junction of Nelson and Yim Po Fung streets will make way for a six-story auditorium with a shopping arcade next to two 24-story residential blocks. The playground, now 26,000 square meters, will be part of the 206,000sqm development.
The project was approved as it improved the playground. But Tam said the URA is supposed to improve old areas, not aid development. And playground renovation should be funded by either the government or the Hong Kong Jockey Club, not a developer.
Green Sense says the area around the playground has many crumbling buildings, which should be a priority.
