1 Builders plan ahead with lure of a minimum wage
Patsy Moy, The Standard 21 July 2009
A leading construction employers' group has agreed "in principle" to set up a minimum wage system to attract new blood in anticipation of a manpower shortage.
Industry leaders predict there will be a shortage of workers in 2011 when construction is expected to boom again. There are 70,000 to 80,000 workers in the industry, with half aged 50 or older.
Hong Kong Construction Association president Conrad Wong Tin- cheung suggested a minimum wage of HK$8,000 a month would be fair but this needs to be fine-tuned with the industry. The association has 320 members, many of whom are major contractors in the city.
Wong said the association's initiative is generally supported by the companies, which foresee a severe shortage of manpower in the coming years.
He admitted it is difficult to attract new workers partly due to the instability of their income. Also young people are opting for more a comfortable and steady work environment such as in the retail sector, instead of working in construction.
So the sector needs to offer higher pay and stable income to attract newcomers, Wong said.
Construction workers are usually paid on a daily or job basis, which means those who are not skilled enough to work fast may not be able to make a decent living.
The move for a minimum wage system was initiated for workers who have just finished training at the Vocational Training Council. It would cover the first few months at work before workers gained enough experience to go it alone.
"The first step is to attract young people to become interested in joining us. We are reluctant to import workers as that could create social problems," Wong said.
Wong sees a construction boom in the next few years due to government infrastructure projects and work in the private sector.
To stimulate the economy, the government estimated in January it would spend HK$29 billion in public works and another HK$10 billion in Housing Authority projects to create 55,000 jobs in the next financial year.
Wong also believed private developers will need more construction workers to build private flats in anticipation of a property boom.
2 Public ideas sought on Junk Bay bridge
Amy Nip, SCMP 21 July 2009
The public has been invited to join a competition to find the best designs for a bridge that will become a Tseung Kwan O landmark.
The Cross Bay Link will be a 1.8 kilometre bridge across Junk Bay, in the southern part of Tseung Kwan O. Its eastern end connects to Lohas Park, a residential project the MTR Corporation is promoting as a green development, and its western end connects to the proposed Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel.
The tunnel and the bridge are intended to meet increased traffic demand as more people move in to Tseung Kwan O.
Work on both projects is to begin in 2012 and finish in 2016.
The competition, launched by the Civil Engineering and Development Department yesterday, encourages the public to give opinions on the bridge design.
One category of the competition is open to members of professional institutes, including the Institution of Engineers, the Institute of Architects and the Designers Association. Any resident can enter the open category.
Results of the competition may be incorporated into the design. Outstanding entries will receive prizes - ranging from HK$1,000 for a commendation in the open category to HK$80,000 for a merit in the professional group.
According to urban design frameworks proposed in the feasibility study for further development of Tseung Kwan O, a waterfront park and promenade will be built in the southern part of the district.
Another park next to the eastern drainage channel - on the eastern side of Junk Bay - will connect to the waterfront. Both the channel and Junk Bay would be open to water sports.
Next to Tseung Kwan O MTR station would be a retail corridor connecting the commercial centre to the waterfront.
Members of the public can submit designs to the department by post between August 31 and September 10. More details are available at www.cbl-tko.hk/CBL-invitation.
3 Lures planned to attract new workers
Paggie Leung, SCMP 21 July 2009
The construction industry is considering offering fixed salaries to young recruits and increasing trainees' monthly allowances to attract workers.
Of the between 70,000 and 80,000 frontline construction workers in Hong Kong, about half were aged 50 or older and nearing retirement, said Conrad Wong Tin-cheung, president of the Hong Kong Construction Association.
He said talks were being held with contractors on the idea of fixed salaries for new workers for their first six or nine months of employment in a bid to avoid a shortage of manpower at a time when key projects were due to begin.
Mr Wong said the fixed monthly wage could be set at HK$8,000, compared with the HK$5,000 to HK$6,000 newcomers now received.
As salaries include payment for the quality and quantity of their work, new entrants would need training before they started to earn more.
Mr Wong also wants at least to double the monthly allowance of trainees who take courses organised by the Construction Industry Council Training Academy from the present HK$2,000.
4 Architects vying for arts hub job stress the public's role
Joyce Ng, SCMP 21 July 2009
Connecting with the community and paying attention to the content and programmes to be offered are the keys to designing the layout of the West Kowloon Cultural District, star architects appointed to the job say.
As widely expected, three teams - Britain's Foster & Partners, the Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture and local firm Rocco Design Architects - were announced yesterday to draw up conceptual development plans by the middle of next year. They were selected from among 33 bidders.
A three-month public consultation will start in September.
The three, together with engineering firm Mott MacDonald, will be paid a total of HK$230 million.
Speaking to the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority's consultation panel for the first time, the heads of the design teams said they understood the need to address community concerns.
Lord Foster, who won a 2002 design competition for the site with a plan for an enormous canopy that the government adopted in the single-tender exercise in 2003, but dropped after public pressure, said in a video presentation: "Part of our philosophy is to start now. I mean, this project has, notwithstanding its extraordinary potential, lain dormant for some 20 years."
A series of immediate initiatives, such as temporary structures, events, film shows, concerts and initial investment in landscaping, could go forward now, while the longer planning process goes on, the Briton said.
Rocco Yim Sen-kee touted the fact that he was born and raised in Hong Kong and said he wanted to co-ordinate with the design of nearby developments, such as the new roads and railway stations, and suggest modifications to them, if possible.
Dutch-born Rem Koolhaas, also speaking by video link, said his firm had set up an office in the city.
"Culture is not something we can define simply through architecture," the Harvard professor said. "We have to think about the content. We have to develop relations with the existing city." The arts hub would be "part of Kowloon", he said.
Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen said a regional audience should be targeted because "seven million people is too small to make an international hub". The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, which will have its terminus behind the site, would attract mainland tourists, he said.
Asked whether the controversy over Lord Foster's canopy would repeat itself, Mr Tang said: "I am not worried that he will be burdened by what he has done in the past. Actually, he knows that site quite well because he has done work on it already."
Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Yau Tsang Ka-lai said the work of the three teams would not include the designs of buildings, which would be decided by competition and tender at a later stage.
The teams will draw up plans for overall land use, the layout of buildings and public open space, landscaping and transport connections to other parts of the city. The public will be asked to opt for one of the three concept plans next year, but preferred elements of each might be combined into one if so desired.
She said the architects were hired by the authority and were not working for developers as in the case of the scrapped single-tender exercise, under which one developer would have been responsible for the whole site.
The first phase of the cultural district is due to be completed by 2015.
5 25 Building plans approved in June
Joyce Ng, SCMP 21 July 2009
The Buildings Department approved 25 building plans in June - seven on Hong Kong Island, seven in Kowloon and 11 in the New Territories.
Of the approved plans, 10 were for apartment and apartment/commercial developments, four were for commercial developments, two were for factory and industrial developments, and nine were for community services developments.
In the same month, consent was given for work to start on 15 building projects that, when completed, will provide 85,418 square metres of gross floor area for domestic use, involving 665 units, and 25,601 square metres of gross floor area for non-domestic use. The department has received notification of commencement of work for 15 building projects.
The department also issued 18 occupation permits - four on Hong Kong Island, one in Kowloon and 13 in the New Territories.
Of the buildings certified for occupation, the gross floor areas for domestic use were 95,728 square metres, involving 739 units, and 71,976 square metres for non-domestic use.
The declared cost of the new buildings completed in June totalled about $2.8 billion.
In addition, nine demolition consents involving nine building structures were issued.
The department received 2,096 complaints against unauthorised building works in June, and issued 2,722 removal orders on unauthorised works.
The full version of the Monthly Digest for June can be viewed by the public on the Buildings Department's homepage (www.bd.gov.hk).
