1  Cultural hub moves another step closer. West Kowloon blueprint passes second reading
Eva Wu, SCMP 3 July 2008

Lawmakers yesterday gave preliminary approval to the long-awaited bill seeking to set up a government-funded body to oversee the planned West Kowloon Cultural District.

The blueprint passed its second reading by 45 votes to two, with one abstention, after nearly five hours of heated debate in the Legislative Council.

Last night, lawmakers began studying dozens of amendments proposed by the government and  fellow members. A final vote on the legal framework for the cultural hub is scheduled for today.

The funding request for a one-off HK$21.6 billion for the project will be tabled for a separate vote by the Finance Committee tomorrow.

The funding is likely to be approved, even though the Civic Party did not rule out the possibility of  voting against it, as the government  rejected its demand to require the  authority overseeing the cultural district to report its finances every six months.

During the debate, pan-democratic lawmakers voiced concern over the choice of board members for the authority, who will all be appointed by the chief executive, fearing the recent row over political appointees would resurface.

Responding to requests calling for open meetings to enhance the  authority's transparency, Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing said some meetings could not be open to the public as they might involve sensitive data.

Alan Leong Kah-kit, of the Civic Party, who chairs the Legco subcommittee on the development, questioned if the chief executive's  appointments to the board would be transparent and accountable.

"What if Norman Chan Tak-lam [head of the Chief Executive's Office] is appointed to chair the board?" he asked. "It would be miserable to  repeat the controversial row on political appointments."

Mr Chan has been viewed as being close to some of the government appointees and sat on the  appointment committee.

Democrat James To Kun-sun said: "The worst scenario is if the government offers appointments only to people who have close ties with it. This may involve conflicts of  interest."

Choy So-yuk, lawmaker for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, disagreed that the chief executive's appointments would cause  controversy.

Liberal Party vice-chairwoman Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee said the public might challenge the administration for shirking its responsibility if no board members were allowed from the civil service.

The board will have at least five members with experience in arts and cultural activities.

On Monday, the government responded to lawmakers' concerns over the huge one-off sum, pledging to  require the arts hub authority to conduct an interim financial review after completion of the first phase in 2014 or 2015.

But the interim review was not included in the bill and the government said the review should not affect  development of the second phase.

 

2 Planners' chief says he favoured Queen's Pier rebuilding on site
Olga Wong, SCMP 3 July 2008

The head of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners yesterday revealed he favoured rebuilding Queen's Pier where it was, but his opinion should not influence the institute's position.

Ling Kar-kan also urged planners and the public not to focus solely on where the pier would be rebuilt but to look at other aspects of the design for the new Central waterfront.

Mr Ling is under fire after the planners' institute, which had originally favoured rebuilding the pier in situ, recommended relocating it.

Some members have criticised the institute for the change in stance, saying the position paper the  institute issued in May supporting the pier's relocation to the new waterfront was made on the basis of views expressed at two poorly attended meetings. They say members were only surveyed for their views after the paper was drawn up, and that circulating the paper with the survey loaded it towards the official view.

They also hint at a conflict of interest between Mr Ling's role as institute president and his post in the Development Bureau. Mr Ling has said his government job has nothing to do with the pier.

In an interview yesterday, he said: "I was one of the four members who voted for the in situ option," referring to a meeting of the institute's 18-member governing council held in May.

Former president of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers Greg Wong Chak-yan said professional members working in the government should not be discriminated against.

Ng Cho-nam, a professor of planning at the University of Hong Kong, said: "The institute could have done more to enhance the survey's credibility, but it is unavoidable that its governing council is dominated by government planners. The government is the largest employer of planners." More than half the institute's 500 members are government planners, according to former vice-president Pong Yuen-yee.