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for. 1.
Subsidised sites may go private 2.
SAR buildings 'more resilient' 3.
HKR & Disney talk over Lantau units
1. Subsidised sites may go private
The Government is considering rezoning five subsidised housing sites on the land-disposal
reserve list for private development after suspending sales of Home Ownership
Scheme (HOS) flats. Director of Lands Bob Pope said yesterday it was looking at
the future use of the five Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS) sites which
were offered among the Government lots on the application list. He expected it
would take a few months to review and decide whether the sites should be re-zoned.
"Hopefully [a decision could be made] before the end of the year," he said. PSPS
sites will produce flats to be sold at discounted prices under the HOS system.
The five PSPS sites, covering 12 hectares of land for the production of 13,700
units, have been scheduled for sale on the reserve list, subject to developers'
applications. SK Pang Surveyors managing director Pang Shiu-kee said the PSPS
sites were suitable for re-zoning as private residential development. But the
Government probably would not release all the sites - even after successful rezoning
- for sale within a short period of time to avoid flooding the market. "Sale prices
will not be high as all the sites are located in the New Territories," he said.
Private developers would be interested only if the prices were low, especially
for the larger sites, he said. The largest of the PSPS sites is in Tseung Kwan
O Area 65B. It covers 4.06 hectares and could provide a floor area of 2.89 million
square feet. Another site is in Shek Mun Area 11 in Sha Tin, covering 4.05 hectares
with a developable floor area of 2.86 million sq ft. The remaining three lots
are in Kwai Chung, Tseung Kwan O and Yuen Long. In response to criticism of the
Government's proposal to produce four large commercial sites in Wan Chai Reclamation
Phase Two area, Mr Pope said the planning process did not equal land supply. He
said the Government would build a land reserve and dispose of sites according
to the market demand. Mr Pope said the Government was still evaluating the suitable
land-use of the Tamar Basin site in Admiralty. He said it had not been decided
whether to reserve the land for building Government headquarters or to release
it for sale and private development. While the residential property market had
continued to slide in recent months, the Lands Department had not received any
appeals on land premiums from developers since the last land auction in August,
Mr Pope said. [Source:
SCMP, 13 September 2001] 2.
SAR buildings 'more resilient'
Most of Hong Kong's skyscrapers would probably stay upright longer than New York's
World Trade Centre if they were hit by a plane, experts said yesterday. The majority
of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong include a central column, which would more
than likely prevent them from collapsing as quickly as the twin towers. Professor
Patrick Lau Sau-shing, of the University of Hong Kong's architecture department,
said the World Trade Centre towers had an external-wall frame made of steel columns,
while most SAR buildings had central concrete columns for structural support.
"Their external steel framework rendered them vulnerable to the extreme heat of
the serious explosion caused by the fuel inside the jets," Professor Lau said.
"Imagine it as a birdcage. As heat quickly builds up inside the building case,
enormous pressure pushes the air against the external walls. The external [case]
buckles as the steel columns inside are softened by the extreme heat. "The floors
above, as a result, depart from the walls and fall straight down . . . and pull
the rest of the tower down in seconds." External-wall frame structures were uncommon
in Hong Kong, he said. Rare examples were Jardine House and the Bank of America,
both in Central. But unlike the World Trade Centre, reinforced concrete was used
in the external walls instead of steel. Steel expands quicker than concrete under
high temperatures. Professor Lau said some skyscrapers were supported by steel
columns, which were not in the walls, such as The Centre in Sheung Wan and Bank
of China Tower in Central. Most of the others, such as the Exchange Square towers
and Cheung Kong Centre, also in Central, had reinforced concrete-column frame
structures. The vice-president of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Dr Alex
Chan Siu-kun, said the World Trade Centre's steel structures were heavy, making
them more vulnerable to collapse. Hong Kong buildings were generally supported
by lighter concrete. Dr Chan said there also was little risk of a domino effect
if a building fell sideways in Hong Kong, despite the high building density. He
cited the case of the 13-storey luxury residential block in Kotewall Road, Mid-Levels,
that collapsed in 1972 after a landslide, killing 67 people. The building it fell
on survived. [Source:
SCMP, 13 September 2001] 3.
HKR & Disney talk over Lantau units
HKR International has approached Walt Disney to lease apartments in the new phase
of its Yi Pak residential development on Lantau Island for staff at the Hong Kong
Disneyland theme park. Chan Chi-ming, general manager of HKR's marketing arm Hong
Kong Resort, said the new project had attracted increasing enquiries from investors
after falls in interest rates. The developer was having talks with Disney about
renting some units in the new project to its staff in Hong Kong. He said Disney
was impressed with the environment of Discovery Bay - "but we still need to sort
out many details". Mr Chan said HKR hoped that more investors would be drawn to
the project by the interest-rate cuts and the stable rental yields in other phases
of Discovery Bay. He expected the property investment sector would be more active
in coming months as the market anticipated further rate cuts. The 298-unit phase-11
project is part of HKR's two million square feet Yi Pak residential development
at Discovery Bay. Phase 11, set to be completed in the first quarter next year,
provides 298 units ranging from 600 square feet to 1,900 sq ft. Mr Chan hoped
some of its one-bedroom units could draw buyers eligible for the Government's
home purchase loans. The company planned to spend about HK$6 billion on the Yi
Pak development. Mr Chan said the terrorist attack in the United States would
have a substantial impact on the Hong Kong and global economies. He expected the
economic recession would last longer than expected, pushing developers to be more
cautious about future plans. HKR
is preparing to launch the phase-11 project of Yi Pak at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the group has rescheduled the sale of its Coastal Skyline development
in Tung Chung from this year to next year. Mr Chan said this was mainly due to
weak home-buying confidence and the global economic slowdown. Building of Coastal
Skyline was slower than expected and there was an oversupply of flats in the mass
market. The 2,000-unit project would be released when it was near completion.
"In our past experience, we find many buyers prefer buying completed units," Mr
Chan said . [Source:
SCMP, 13 September 2001] |  |
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