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1. Risk of HK dengue outbreak rockets

2. Bug City

3. 'I live on the 34th floor. There shouldn't be mosquitoes'

4. New World to be paid $1.4b in flats buy-back

5. Encephalitis carriers found

6. We've seen off Sars, now let's defeat dengue fever

7. Contractors take on the role of developer

8. SCMP Cartoon

9. Big players are likely to bid for cultural hub

10. Property deal drives traders' golden dream

11. Kowloon site fetches $1b

1. Risk of HK dengue outbreak rockets
PATSY MOY, SCMP 16 June 2004

The possibility of a dengue fever outbreak in Hong Kong has risen dramatically, with health officials reporting soaring levels of the mosquitoes that can carry the disease.

Doctors called for public vigilance to prevent an outbreak of the potentially fatal disease.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said yesterday its ovitrap index - which tracks the number of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes - reached an average of 31.6 per cent last month. This is the highest since monitoring began in 2000.

Thirty of the 38 checking locations exceeded the "alert" level of 20 per cent, and of these 10 topped the more severe "alarming" level of 40 per cent. Tai Wai had the highest level - 61.8 per cent, up from just 12 per cent in April. Most of the high-risk areas are in New Territories East.

The index is calculated by measuring the number of Aedes mosquito eggs laid in special traps at various sites across Hong Kong.

World Health Organisation scientist Chang Moh Seng said the findings indicated an increase in density of the female mosquitoes whose bites spread the disease - raising the possibility of infection.

Patients with dengue fever show symptoms of fever, joint and muscle pain and rashes. Severe cases can cause excessive bleeding and death.

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department consultant Ho Yuk-yin said: "We had a local outbreak in 2002 [with 44 infections], last year we had one [local] case and we are [now] vulnerable to another outbreak. An anti-mosquito campaign is very important and the participation of the public is crucial.

"Mosquito population is an important factor, but the control of an outbreak also relies on an effective programme to identify cases early."

Dr Ho said an interdepartmental taskforce would be set up in each area where the "alert" level on the index had been reached.

A departmental spokesman attributed the drastic rise in the mosquito population to the high humidity and warm weather this year, which had favoured breeding. The Observatory recorded 104.3mm of rainfall in March and 147.2mm in April - compared to 84.5mm in both March and April last year. Rainfall in May totalled 194.4mm, against 249mm a year ago.

The spokesman said families had an important role in improving environmental hygiene, as Aedes mosquitoes could breed indoors in stagnant water such as that found under flower pots at home.

Last year only three locations recorded readings higher than 40 per cent. Health experts raised the alarm last month when eight locations recorded ovitrap scores above 40 per cent. So far this year, however, all 11 dengue fever cases have been classified as imported.

2. Bug City
SCMP, 16 June 2004

3. 'I live on the 34th floor. There shouldn't be mosquitoes'
DIKKY SINN and PATSY MOY, SCMP 16 June 2004

Tai Wai resident Cheung Fok Wai-chi was worried yesterday after learning her district is the most mosquito-infested in Hong Kong.

"Of course, I am worried because there are so many unknown viruses about nowadays. Also, I am worried about dengue fever with the arrival of summer," the 38-year-old housewife said.

Mrs Cheung and her husband have a five-year-old son and have lived in Tai Wai's May Shing Court for 13 years.

Tai Wai's ovitrap index jumped from 12 per cent in April to 61.8 per cent last month. While aware that the district had a mosquito problem, Mrs Cheung did not realise its alarming level.

"I live on the 34th floor. There shouldn't be mosquitoes, but I have found quite a few of them recently."

She believes the Shing Mun River channel and nearby construction sites are breeding grounds.

Her son, Tin-hang, who was wearing a vest and shorts yesterday, said he was occasionally bitten by mosquitoes.

"My mum helps me apply insect repellent every time I go out, but sometimes I still get bitten. I have to keep walking because if I stop or sit down, they bite me," he said.

But Chan Sae-fan, who has lived in May Shing Court for more than 20 years, was not worried about mosquitoes. "I don't think there are many mosquitoes. It's very clean. I seldom see pools of stagnant water in the estate," the 70-year-old said.

Sha Tin district councillor Lo Wai-kwok said the Shing Mun River could be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, adding that it had a long-standing pollution problem.

"The government has taken steps to clear the water bed ... so the situation has improved."

4. New World to be paid $1.4b in flats buy-back
MARTIN WONG, SCMP 16 June 2004

The government will pay New World Development $1.4 billion to buy back 2,010 flats in a former subsidised housing development, after efforts to strike a deal to sell them to the developer broke down.

The Housing Authority now faces the dilemma of what to do with the flats in Kingsford Terrace, Ngau Chi Wan, sales of which were blocked when the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) was mothballed in 2002.

The deal comes as a row continues to rage over the "cut-price" sale of another former HOS project, the Hunghom Peninsula, to a consortium of New World and Sun Hung Kai Properties which plans to demolish it to build luxury apartments.

Under an agreement signed between New World Development and the Housing Authority in January 2000, the administration had to buy back the Kingsford Terrace flats from the developer for $1.44 billion if they remained unsold by this month.

New World built the flats under the Private Sector Participation Scheme that gave companies a role in building subsidised flats for sale.

New World Development general manager Stewart Leung Chi-kin said yesterday that negotiations had broken down and the government would buy back the flats as specified in the agreement.

The parties were, however, still negotiating over the future of a shopping mall and parking lot inside the estate.

A spokesman for the Housing Authority said it would act in accordance with the agreement but had yet to decide what to do with the 2,010 flats. Advance Planner, a New World subsidiary, filed a writ on March 22 seeking damages from the government over the suspension of sales of the flats.

5. Encephalitis carriers found
PATSY MOY, SCMP 16 June 2004

Three Culex mosquitoes, which can carry the potentially fatal Japanese encephalitis, have been trapped near where a woman died from the disease last week.

Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officials caught the insects in Kau Wa Keng San Tsuen, in Kwai Chung, where the 29-year-old Indonesian domestic helper succumbed to the mosquito-borne disease.

Yuen Ming-chi, pest control officer-in-charge for the department, said it remained unknown whether the trapped mosquitoes carried the disease. Mr Yuen tried to ally public fear by saying that "three Culex mosquitoes are only a very small number". The species usually bites animals rather than humans, he noted.

The pest control offer said it was difficult to set up an ovitrap index to measure the population of Culex mosquitoes. The index is used for Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which carry dengue fever, based on the numbers caught in traps. Culex mosquitoes are reluctant to lay their eggs in ovitraps, unlike the Aedes species.

6. We've seen off Sars, now let's defeat dengue fever
Editorial, SCMP 16 June 2004

The threat dengue fever poses to our city has been evident since the first locally transmitted outbreak struck down 20 victims in 2002. Two years on, however, this potential killer is still not being taken seriously enough. There have been no further outbreaks here, but the warning signs are growing. They point to this mosquito-borne disease representing a clear danger.

Monthly indices recording the prevalence of the Aedes albopictus mosquito, which carries the disease, give rise to concerns. In April, seven areas recorded high levels. The figures for May, released yesterday, are even more worrying.

They reveal that the average index is at a record level and that nine locations exceeded the 40 per cent threshold considered high-risk. Four areas hit the 50 per cent mark and one of them - Tai Wai - was more than 60 per cent.

The situation has rightly been described by one health official as alarming. The fear is that there may be another outbreak and that the disease will gain a foothold in Hong Kong.

It is, perhaps, surprising that this has not already happened. Our city would seem to offer the Aedes mosquito a perfect home. It loves our hot, wet, urban environment.

The mosquito does not lack breeding grounds. It favours discarded lunch boxes, bottles and cans, empty tyres, blocked gutters, broken pots - anything which collects small amounts of water. These are all too easy to find in Hong Kong, even though there has been some improvement due to the cleanup campaign launched in response to Sars.

Wiping out the Aedes mosquito will not be possible. But reducing its numbers to a relatively safe level should be easy to achieve. The key is to limit the breeding grounds. However, this will require an aggressive response from the government and a community-wide effort. We need to rekindle the spirit which helped defeat Sars.

Since the dengue fever outbreak in 2002, the government has adopted various measures to limit the risks. Inspections of potential breeding grounds have been stepped up and there have been repeated calls for the public to guard against dengue fever. These have, no doubt, helped keep the disease at bay - and they are to be stepped up in the light of the latest index readings.

However, the danger posed by dengue fever is still not sufficiently appreciated. A poll last year showed only 37 per cent of people take precautions to avoid mosquito bites, such as wearing repellent. And there appears to be a misguided perception that the risk exists only in rural areas.

There is no room for complacency. Dengue fever, once known as "break bone fever" is a painful and extremely unpleasant disease. There is no cure.

That virtually all first-time victims recover offers little reassurance. A second infection can lead to a more serious form of the disease - and that can be fatal. Children are particularly at risk.

Further evidence of our city's vulnerability can be seen in the prevalence of dengue fever in most parts of the region. There have been hundreds of cases in the Philippines this year, and thousands in Vietnam. A devastating outbreak in Indonesia claimed more than 250 lives.

Hong Kong has, so far, managed to avoid joining the list of 100 countries where dengue fever is endemic. But only through a sustained and widespread effort will that situation be maintained.

There is a need for a more intensive campaign to raise awareness and to motivate the whole community. A blitz should be launched on potential mosquito breeding grounds across Hong Kong - and not just in identified hot spots. This should have interdepartmental support.

It is also worth considering a designated Sars-style cleaning day in which everyone is encouraged to rid their homes and workplaces of such sites.

Dengue fever is avoidable. We all have a responsibility to ensure it does not get a grip in Hong Kong.

7. Contractors take on the role of developer
ERNEST KONG and JUN CHU, SCMP 16 June 2004

A slowing construction business has prompted some contractors to develop their own properties. The shift in business focus is reflected in their participation at recent land auctions and Urban Renewal Authority (URA) redevelopment projects, and the expansion of their property portfolios.

Chun Wo Holdings, which entered the construction business in 1968, is among the keenest of players who are diversifying their core construction business. The firm will launch its first solely owned development project atop Choi Hung MTR station this year, and is eyeing projects that involve more complex construction processes.

In 2001, the firm outbid Sino Land and Nan Fung Development to win development rights for the residential/park and ride project in Choi Hung, which involved complex construction above the MTR station. It was the first time an MTR station development had been awarded to a contractor and not a developer.

Chun Wo Holdings managing director Clement Kwok Yuk-chiu said business diversification was a necessary step to survive in a shrinking construction business, with decreasing infrastructure and a drop in the number of public works up for tender.

"Hong Kong's construction industry reached its peak with the completion of the airport at Chek Lap Kok. We have to diversify our business in the long term."

The suspension of government subsidised housing hurt business opportunities for construction firms in Hong Kong, market observers said.

Mr Kwok said a vertical integration of construction and property development, which allows more flexibility in the construction process, helped the company save on time and costs.

"Of course, we are no match for some giant developers in bidding for large-scale projects, but our edge is in medium size sites that are relatively difficult to develop," he said. "However, when land prices peaked in 1997, our edge in engineering and construction was not significant."

Amid signs that land prices are going up again and aggressive bids are being witnessed at land auctions (with sites selling at more than 70 per cent above their reserve prices), Mr Kwok pointed out that there were alternatives in acquiring sites. "We are very keen about the coming URA [Urban Redevelopment Authority] projects. Some of them are even more suitable for us than those released earlier this year," he said, adding that the company was also eyeing sites in the private market.

Chan Sum Construction Company, established in 1973, has adoped a similar strategy. It launched Talent Land Development in 2001 as a joint venture between Chan Sum Construction and Chung Mei International.

"Land prices are low enough to attract developers," Talent Land Development director Timmy Chan said. "And our traditional role as a contractor helped us bid for development projects."

In 2001, the firm developed La Mer, a luxury residential development project in Bisney Road, Pokfulam.

La Mer was formerly owned by Chi Cheung Investment, and was being constructed by Chan Sum Construction. Chan Sum took over when the developer had financial problems. Being both the developer and the contractor for La Mer simplified construction and saved money, Mr Chan said.

On the company's future, Mr Chan said: "We will have projects in Hong Kong and China. In Hong Kong, we will focus mainly on government projects."

As a small construction firm, Chan Sum is interested in URA projects and sees them as the focus in the coming year.

The firm has also started expansion plans in south China. It has bought a piece of land - 300,000 square feet - in Panyu, Guangdong, and has invested $180 million as the sole investor.

"We started development projects more than a decade ago and the result is encouraging," Mr Chan said.

8. SCMP Cartoon
SCMP, 16 June 2004

9. Big players are likely to bid for cultural hub
SANDY LI, 16 June 2004

The government is expected to receive a handful of submissions from the largest property players bidding for the controversial West Kowloon cultural hub development when the tender closes on Saturday.

Although by the end of last year the government received submissions from 11 local and overseas firms expressing interest in the project, consultants believed some would not commit to such a huge investment for the next 30 years.

The probable bidders include cash-rich Henderson Land Development, Swire Pacific, Hongkong Land and Wharf (Holdings).

Sun Hung Kai Properties and Cheung Kong (Holdings) are believed to be either bidding for the project individually or forming a venture to compete with rivals.
A vice-president of Real Estate Developers Association yesterday predicted only big developers would have a chance to win.

"The government worries the project will be severely affected if one of the members of a consortium is trapped in financial problem," he said. Therefore, the government wanted to award the project to a single developer that had the ability to develop the project individually.

The government's plan to grant the project in one contract has been criticised by the association, legislators, artists, art critics, architects and planners, who said the move would turn the huge waterfront site into a developer's colony.

The massive project, designed by Norman Foster, to be built on a 40-hectare reclaimed site near Kowloon station, is aimed at turning Hong Kong into Asia's cultural and artistic hub. The winner will build and operate the project for 30 years. Twenty-nine per cent of the 7.3 million square foot site will be set aside for arts and culture, and the rest is slated for commercial and residential development, and government facilities.

Landscope Realty managing director Koh Keng-shing projected only a handful of developers had the "ability and willingness" to take up the project alone.
Concerns such as whether the project would be commercially viable and satisfy government requirements remained, he said.

Mr Koh said any developer that won the right for the huge development would have a great influence in Hong Kong's residential market.

Jones Lang LaSalle regional valuation director Lau Chung-kong said the investment risk over the 30 years would also be crucial in determining whether developers would submit their bids.

10. Property deal drives traders' golden dream
ENOCH YIU, SCMP 16 June 2004

The government's controversial plan to redevelop Wan Chai's "Wedding Card Street" has helped the local gold exchange realise its dream of introducing an electronic trading system.

Alvin Ching Man-kit, who was elected president of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society yesterday, said it had wanted to use computers to trade gold for a long time but had not had enough money to implement the plan.

Traders still conduct business through open outcry on the floor of the exchange.

But from next year, the click of computer keys will replace the hubbub, thanks to the government's redevelopment plan for Lee Tung Street.

The government will pay $18 million to the exchange to buy its properties in the street in August.

"This is a windfall that provides the money we need to develop the electronic trading system for the exchange," Mr Ching said. "We will soon have a tender for the project and the new system will begin trading next year."

After introducing electronic trading, the exchange would trade round the clock to match the opening hours of the London and United States gold markets. It also plans to introduce silver trading.

Gold trading volume was up 30 per cent year on year in the first five months of this year, with an average daily trading volume of about five tonnes.

Mr Ching said the active trading was due to the weak US dollar, global concerns over terrorist threats and the rising price of oil.

11. Kowloon site fetches $1b
Raymond Wang, The Standard 16 June 2004

Nina Wang's Chinachem Group went shopping yesterday, spending big to ward off rival developers in the year's second land auction and grab a prime urban site at a premium price.

The winning bid of HK$1.01 billion was nearly 50 per cent above the Kowloon City residential plot's reserve price of HK$682.2 million.

Analysts had expected the site to go for about HK$900 million.

The robust price seemed to have more to do with scandal-plagued Chinachem's plans for the site than an overall spike in the market, analysts said, noting that some big players, like Cheung Kong (Holdings), sat out the sale.

BNP Paribas Peregrine's head of regional property, Adrian Ngan, said the auction result would have little effect on the property market, which would stay on a stable development track.

He said some developers stood by because they estimated the price would exceed market expectations and they were reluctant to join the fray.

Privately-held Chinachem, controlled by Asia's richest woman and mired in a long-standing court battle to sort out its ownership, fought off 34 rival bids, including efforts by K Wah International Holdings, New World Development, and Wharf (Holdings) to acquire the 37,000 square foot site in Sa Po Road, which has long been a feature of the company's expansion plans.

Chinachem director Joseph Leung said the company plans to build a 45-storey luxury apartment complex atop a two-level shopping mall and parking garage on the site.

The firm bought an adjacent site two years ago at a government auction for about HK$1,300 psf.

``These are two separate sites, but we treat it as a single development,'' he said.

Chinachem estimated total investment in the project at more than HK$1.5 billion, or HK$4,700 per square foot, including construction costs of almost HK$600 million on top of the sale price.

Chinachem sales manager Ng Song-mou said the transaction price, which works out to HK$2,961 psf, was about HK$300 psf more than the company had planned to pay.

Since the two sites will be developed together and joined by a pedestrian bridge, he said, the price was ``still within our budget.''

The company will submit a new development plan with a combined floor area of more than 560,000 sq ft for government approval, he added.

The latest site has a developable area of 341,100 sq ft, and will have 270 flats with an average size about 1,000 sq ft. The plan for the adjacent site is to be announced later. Ng estimated the luxury apartments would sell for about HK$6,000 psf when they come on stream in three years, giving Chinachem a 27 per cent profit margin.

Financial Secretary Henry Tang said he was happy with the auction price. Together with last month's auction of two sites, a total of HK$3.97 billion has gone into government coffers. However, Tang said the government did not intend to raise its HK$4.57 billion revenue forecast from total land sales for the fiscal year.

Last month, two plots of land in the suburban New Territories attracted 13 bidders for each site in the government's first land auction after a 20-month hiatus. Sources said that as demand for new development sites from developers remains strong, the government is considering releasing more land on its reserve list in the next fiscal year.

Land-hungry Chinachem sent two representatives to bid for the site yesterday, with an mystery woman presenting the winning bid. She was identified later as a Chinachem agent.

The developer's celebrity chief, flamboyant Nina Wang, with her trademark red hair plaited in little-girl braids, has assets valued at more than HK$10 billion but she is tied up in a running court battle over her late husband's will.

She is currently appealing a court judgment earlier this year that she will have to face civil action over claims that she improperly took over one of her late husband's companies after his disappearance, diluted his shareholding, and used the company to secure HK$4.5 billion in loans for her own benefit.

Teddy Wang disappeared in 1990 after his Mercedes was ambushed, allegedly by gangsters, who drowned him in the Hong Kong harbour. His body was never found.

The government is to buy back the residential component of the Kingsford Terrace development for HK$1.44 billion after talks with New World Development (NWD) failed to reach an agreement on land premium payment.

A Housing Authority spokesman said last night the government would buy back the 2,010-unit subsidised housing project in Ngau Chi Wan that had been built under the Private Sector Participation Scheme.

NWD director and general manager Stewart Leung said a new round of talks with the government would begin next week on the retail part of the development.

The department and developer had been trying to reach an agreed price which NWD would pay to compensate for subsidies - mostly land - it had received in developing the project.

Once that was settled NWD would have been free to sell the project as private apartments.

The government has been strongly criticised for selling the 2,470-unit Hung Hom Peninsula to a Sun Hung Kai Properties-NWD joint venture for a premium payment of only HK$864 million earlier this year.