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Transcript of Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands
(Designate) 2.
11 developers fall out of $3.5b contest for MTR project 3.
Six bids submitted for MTRC Hang Hau Station project 4.
Symantec introduces the answer to attacks like Nimda,
'Code Red and other blended threats. Blended security. Today's complex attacks
can overwhelm traditional security, slip through your gateway and bring down your
entire company. Intrusion Detection. Firewall. Virtual Private Networks. Content
Filtering. Virus Protection. 5.
Naked in the city. If toilet tissue is for your bottom,
why is it always in your face? 6.
Java conquests open territory for world's software
pioneers
1. Transcript of Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Designate) Following
is the transcript (English portion) of the media session given by the Secretary
for Housing, Planning and Lands (Designate), Mr Michael Suen, at the Central Government
Offices, Main Wing today (June 24): Reporter: What is your priority in the new
position? Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Designate): My priority is
to have fine consultation with various stake holders in the field of housing.
As you know everyone in Hong Kong is very concerned about various aspects of housing;
and we have just completed a review of the institutional framework for public
housing. One of my primary tasks will obviously be to consider how to implement
the various proposals contained in that review. [Source:
Hong Kong Government, 24 June 2002] 2.
11 developers fall out of $3.5b contest for MTR project
Just seven developers out of a possible 18 have submitted tenders for the HK$3.5
billion Hang Hau Station retail and residential project on the Tseung Kwan O line.
The seven are believed to be Henderson Land, Cheung Kong, Sun Hung Kai Property,
Nan Fung Development, Kowloon Development, Sino Land and Kerry Property. The last
two firms are believed to have submitted a joint bid. Mass Transit Railway Corporation
(MTR Corp) property director Thomas Ho said he expected the project to attract
investment of up to HK$3.5 billion. He said the number of tenders received was
within expectations, despite 18 letters of intent being submitted in March. ``I'm
pleased with the response.'' Developers who expressed interest in the scheme but
who are believed to have pulled out include Wharf, Pacific Concord, HKR International,
Hantec Investment and Chun Wo. The project, above the station, will cover an area
of 1.53 million square feet, and comprise a shopping mall and 2,133 homes in six
blocks. The winning consortium will have to pay an ``entry fee'' of at least HK$350
million, and the land premium is tipped to reach HK$1.27 billion - meaning an
average charge of more than HK$834 per sq ft for bidders. The Hang Hau Station
development is the first property project to be rolled out by a rail operator
since Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang's pledge to tighten the
disposal of land for the MTR Corp and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC).
The government's move last week was seen as an attempt to reduce the oversupply
of residential property and prop up the sagging market. Ho said he supported the
government's move, adding it would help centralise land supply. The Urban Renewal
Authority and the KCRC will also put projects up for tender this month and bids
may reach HK$6 billion. Ho defended the timing of the sales. ``The three projects
have different target customers. Coupled with the huge potential with Tseung Kwan
O's future development, the projects will not have direct impact on each other.'' [Source:
The Standard, 25 June 2002] 3.
Six bids submitted for MTRC Hang Hau Station project
MTR Corp has drawn six bidders for the Hang Hau Station residential-retail development,
on the Tseung Kwan O railway extension, which involves a total investment of HK$3.5
billion. Developers bidding on their own included Sun Hung Kai Properties and
Henderson Land Development. Sino Land and Kerry Properties made a joint bid, while
Kowloon Development submitted its tender in partnership with parent Polytec Holdings.
The two other bidders were Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Nan Fung Development. After
the tender closed yesterday, MTRC property director Thomas Ho Hang-kwong said:
"The result is in line with our expectation and we're quite satisfied."
He estimated the investment cost amounted to HK$3.5 billion and expected completion
in three years. Sino Land associate director and company secretary Eric Ip Sai-kwong
said his company and tender partner Kerry Properties were optimistic about the
property market, and that he expected residential prices to edge up 5 per cent
to 10 per cent in the second half of this year. "We'll be interested in the
future tender projects, no matter from MTRC or Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp,"
he said. Mr Ip said Sino Land would be interested in the Tsuen Wan town centre
residential redevelopment being tendered by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA).
"To formulate the supply of land from the two railway corporations and URA
by the Government is a right direction. It will strengthen the confidence of developers,"
he said. Hang Hau Station provides total developable area of 1.53 million square
feet, including a 37,600 sq ft shopping mall and more than 2,000 units in six
residential blocks. The developer or consortium who wins the project will have
to pay the Government HK$1.27 billion to settle the land premium and pay HK$350
million up front to the MTRC. They could opt for a profit-sharing proposal and
surrender the ownership of the shopping mall, together with a HK$60 million decoration
fee to MTRC. Developers who had submitted an initial interest for the project
but did not tender yesterday included Wharf (Holdings), New World Development,
HKR International, Chinachem Group, Wing Tai Asia and K Wah International. Mr
Ho said MTRC supported the Government's proposal to formulate the future supply
of railway-related properties. "MTRC is releasing land supply according to
market demand. I do not see any significant difference [compared with the Government's
proposal] and I expect the company will not be affected in the short-term,"
Mr Ho said. He said MTRC's next tender project would be the development at Tiu
Keng Leng Station, along the Tseung Kwan O railway extension. Mr Ho said the government
report on the institutional framework for public housing was positive for the
market. [Source:
SCMP, 25 June 2002] 4.
Symantec introduces the answer to attacks like Nimda, 'Code Red and other blended
threats. Blended security. Today's complex attacks can overwhelm traditional security,
slip through your gateway and bring down your entire company. Intrusion Detection.
Firewall. Virtual Private Networks. Content Filtering. Virus Protection.
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with the latest threats and their solutions. And it's available with a range of
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Gateway security: An Integrated Solution," or the Gateway security White
Papers, visit www.Symantec.com/hk-sgs-scmp or call 2973 4467. [Source:
SCMP, 25 June 2002] 5.
Naked in the city. If toilet tissue is for your bottom, why is it always in your
face? It's
a cultural quirk of Hong Kong that so many issues are not openly discussed. Why,
then, is toilet paper such a visible issue ? Everything you could possibly want
from the supermarket can fit into single plastic bags except for bathroom tissue.
A pack of rolls doesn't even fit into a shopping trolley - it has to sit on top,
like a sail. It can just fit through a minibus doorway, as if that were good news.
An inevitably, when you are carrying a pack, you bump into someone you know. You
look embarrassed and spontaneously hurried, as if to say: "Sorry can't stop
to say 'hi' - I have to go." Clearly. Toilet tissue can be spotted everywhere.
People keep rolls of it on their desks at work. It is found on the tables in some
restaurants - often for good reason. You can even see rolls of it, usually in
pink plastic dispensers, on the rear window ledge of many cars - mostly Bentleys.
Many office buildings don't supply toilet paper in their communal bathrooms, so
rolls end up dotted all over the office and, better still, on the reception desk,
apparently for guests. Subtle. The good news is you can apply to building managers
for a toilet tissue locker and key, but you will need to share "your"
locker with one or two colleagues: you can run but you cannot hide. Only in Hong
Kong would toilet paper not be included in your management fees. Employees in
such no-frills buildings have to go to the loo with a roll in hand, as if to say:
"Big lunch; hold all my calls." Surely toilet paper should be delivered
under the cover of darkness, and hopefully by others. If toilet tissue is primarily
for your bottom, why is it that in Hong Kong it is always in your face ? Do we
really need to see so much of something so private ? The only place you can't
find bathroom tissue is in bathrooms. Especially public ones. That is the real
reason why packets of facial tissues are sold in packs of 10. nobody has that
bad a cold. We can't blame the Government for the lack of toilet tissue in public
lavatories. It has been busy addressing a seemingly more pressing problem: people
standing on the seats - probably to see if the stall next door has any tissue.
[The Government wanted to spend millions of dollars on a "don't-stand-on-the-seat"
campaign for public washrooms. Some catchy slogans up for grabs were: "Be
neat: don't sit on your feet" and "Skin against rim makes your Government
grin". But the best without a doubt was: "Soles above holes means you
might miss the bowls."] So it's time for us to speak up, to demand softer,
gentler treatment from our supermarkets, and discreet wrapping. Maybe manufacturers
could repackage the product as napkin roll - at least then people might think
you are having a party and not a problem. If we could get this predicament dealt
with, we could finally put the entire toilet paper issue where it belongs - behind
us. [Source:
SCMP by Richard Feldman, 25 June 2002] 6.
Java conquests open territory for world's software pioneers
Sun Microsystems announced the creation of the Java programming language more
than seven years ago. It is now be coming truly pervasive, with its latest conquest
in mobile devices. Asia is doing well in terms of Java deployment in small devices
such as mobile phones, according to Eric Chu, group manager, industry marketing,
Java product group, at Sun. South Korea is one of the leaders. "Active use
of Java handsets in Koreas began quite some time ago," he says. "LG
Telecom was the first to deploy Java-enabled handsets about two years ago, and
there are now three million Java-capable handsets being used in Korea." The
United States has also been developing its markets. "After Korea comes the
US market, with about 1.3 million handsets deployed. There are over 60 Java applications
that run on these devices in the US. "We are looking at over 20 million handsets
worldwide, and by the end of the year we expect to see 50 million to 70 million
handsets from 15 device manufacturers. There will be more than 60 models as well."
All this has happened in a relatively short length of time. Sales of Java phones
began less than two years ago, he says. "We started seeing the phones in
the market about 21 months ago. "The market is really beginning to take off,
especially in China," Mr. Chu says. The telecommunications carriers are one
of the main driving forces. "We are expecting 10 to 15 carriers to deploy
Java-enabled phones over the next six months." Mr Chu expects large carriers
to dominate the dissemination of software for these devices. Developers, however,
can be one-man small companies or huge organisations. "It will be the larger
companies that will position themselves to supply customers with Jave software
for mobile devices. But small companies can position themselves easily as content
creators and developers of software," he says. One of the hottest areas will
be mobile enterprise. 'An area of increasing importance for the marketplace is
the mobile enterprise. Many corporations are looking for ways to cut costs,"
Mr. Chu says. "In Japan, for example, Osaka Gas is looking to cut costs by
using Java handsets on mobile phones for reading meters. In the US, some insurance
claims in California are also being handled with Java-enabled phones. This has
led to a decrease in turnaround from 45 days to 14. the insurance company can
work faster and the customers can get paid faster." Some larger carriers
have been looking at another way to sue Java in phones: the Java Card, popular
as it is independent of the technology of the handset. "Carriers like the
Java Card a lot because it allows them to deploy carrier-center, customized services
without relying on the handset," he says. Another factor helping to push
Java is that Java can have a presence throughout an enterprise, from the huge
back-end servers to sim cards in phones "J2EE [Java 2, enterprise edition]
has formed the foundation of the technology," he says. Security is naturally
a big issue, and Java has done extremely well in the area, Mr Chu says. "In
21 months we have gone from zero to 20 million handsets, and there has yet to
be a security issue or a bug found. "The technology has shown that it really
works." [Source:
SCMP, 25 June 2002] |  |
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