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for. 1.
New link `to put KCRC on earnings track' 2.
Economy blamed as 40pc of latest HOS flats unsold 3.
Beijing studies Zhuhai bridge 4.
Wary buyers see HOS flat sales hit record low
1. New link `to put KCRC on earnings track'
Matthew
Lee, The Standard 28 September 2002 The
just-approved Kowloon Southern Link should add an extra 210,000 commuters a day
and help the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation break even, chairman Yeung Kai-yin
said yesterday. When
it comes into service in 2009, the new link - given government approval on Tuesday
- is expected to boost commuter numbers on the corporation's West Rail to about
500,000 a day. It
would enable passengers to travel directly from Tuen Mun to Tsim Sha Tsui instead
of switching to the Mass Transit Railway at Nam Cheong - present terminus of West
Rail, which is due to open late next year. Yeung
said the West Rail line would most likely make a loss without the southern link,
with daily passenger traffic falling short of the original projection of 300,000.
With the link, ``passengers could save both money and time as it would be one
company, one transit system and one price''. Senior
director of finance and management Samuel Lai said present projections of passenger
traffic on West Rail were ``much less than earlier projections, and we are facing
severe competition from buses and other public transport, so our fares will not
be set as high as originally predicted''. He believed West Rail would break even
after the southern link was brought into service. Lai said the fare for a single
journey from Tin Shui Wai to Sham Shui Po - originally set at HK$20 - would be
reduced, and it would cost around HK$1 more to go on to Tsim Sha Tsui through
the southern link. Yeung said a fare increase to cover revenue loss was unlikely.
``While West Rail phase 1 is going to lose us some money until the Kowloon Southern
Link extends West Rail to Tsim Sha Tsui, we simply have to bite the bullet for
a few years,'' he said. Yeung
said the direct link to Tsim Sha Tsui would encourage more residents of the western
New Territories to use West Rail. Construction
of the 4.5-kilometre project, to cost HK$9.2 billion, is scheduled to start in
mid-2005, about six months after the KCRC's Hung Hom-Tsim Sha Tsui East extension
is completed. It will complete the link between West Rail and East Rail. ``No
pain no gain,'' Yeung said, refrring to disruption from construction work. ``We
believe that the things we are demolishing when we are opening up roads and putting
up boarding is done in accordance with the plan which causes the least possible
disruption over the shortest possible time.'' Road
digging for the Tsim Sha Tsui extension would conclude by the end of the year,
with the remainder of the construction continuing underground. Yeung
said the KCRC would set aside HK$400 million to compensate shopowners and tenants
affected by the construction of the southern link. Meanwhile
the KCRC is in talks with the MTR Corp and Kowloon Motor Bus on the possibility
of providing discounts for passengers interchanging between various transport
means. ``It takes
two to tango,'' Yeung said.
2. Economy blamed as 40pc of latest HOS flats unsold
Eli
Lau, The Standard 28 September 2002 More
than 40 per cent of the 2,451 units in the latest phase of Home Ownership Scheme
remain unsold. HOS
Phase 24A - the first batch of subsidised flats rolled out for sale after a 10-month
moratorium ended in July - provided units at three projects in Lam Tin, Tai Wai
and Sha Tin. So
far only 56 per cent of the units at Lam Tin have been sold, 58 per cent at Tai
Wai and 55 per cent at Sha Tin. Secretary
for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen refused to comment yesterday on whether
the HOS should be abandoned given the weak response. ``There
are many choices in both the public and private property sectors. The response
[to HOS flat sales] reflects the public's choices,'' he said. The
flats on offer - at Ka Keng Court in Tai Wai, Yu Chui Court Stage 2 in Sha Tin
and Lei On Court in Lam Tin - range from 506 square feet to 663 sq ft. They are
being sold for between HK$870,000 and HK$1.87 million each, a 30 per cent discount
to market value. The Housing Authority said the cool response was ``understandable'',
given the weak economy and uncertainty in the job market. In
May, Chief Secretary for Administration Donald Tsang announced that 2,400 HOS
flats would be released this month and another 2,500 units in April next year.
He said HOS flat sales would be capped at 2,000 a year after April 2006 - a drastic
reduction from the ceiling of 9,000 units set previously. A
government review of housing policy is under way and is expected to completed
in the next two months. Tycoon
Stanley Ho predicted property prices would rise by 5-10 per cent in the next few
months. If the
government could ``prescribe the right medicine for the disease'' and big property
developers were united and didn't push down the prices, market confidence would
be boosted, he said. Executive
Councillor James Tien said the government should rent out all the HOS flats and
not to sell them to developers.
3. Beijing studies Zhuhai bridge
EXCLUSIVE
by ANTOINE SO, SCMP 28 September 2002 Beijing
has ordered a team of officials to decide whether there is a need for a bridge
linking Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai, with mainland leaders to receive their
recommendations on the controversial plan within weeks. A
delegation from the Transport Research Institute of the State Development Planning
Commission secretly visited Hong Kong this week and held a series of meetings
to gather data and opinions on the project. The
institute will complete a study on the feasibility of the bridge in time for the
16th Communist Party Congress in November. The study will provide the new leadership
expected to be chosen at the congress with a clear recommendation on whether to
give their blessing to the project. It will also settle a year-long squabble between
Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai over the project. A
source close to this week's talks told the South China Morning Post that the delegation's
"low-profile" visit to the SAR was to gather background and opinions
on the project. "This study by Beijing will be an influential and determining
one that will set aside all the squabbles," the source said. He would not
reveal who took part in the meetings but said those involved included leading
figures from the engineering and logistics sectors. The
source said that the study would look primarily at the need and timing of the
bridge and estimate what gains the project would bring to the Pearl River Delta
and western China under the Go West development campaign. Financial
arrangements - including the crucial question of whether the bridge should be
privately or publicly funded - and other technical details will be investigated
next year. Hong
Kong, Macau and Zhuhai have been locked in bitter debate over the bridge project,
which was first proposed 19 years ago. It received fresh impetus last year when
the chairman of the Hopewell Group, Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung, revived plans for
the link. In
his vision, the bridge link with the western part of the delta could better position
Hong Kong to become a logistics hub and reduce over-reliance on Shenzhen. Sir
Gordon has said a bridge could instigate rapid development in the western delta
where Hong Kong's future manufacturing base could be moved to benefit from its
cheap land and labour. Pioneering
the bridge idea in 1983, Sir Gordon's latest proposal is for a 29km bridge to
connect Chek Lap Kok airport with Zhuhai and Macau. The project would cost about
$15 billion and take three years to complete. However,
the plan has previously been cold-shouldered by Hong Kong transport officials,
notably former secretary for transport Nicholas Ng Wing-fui, who has repeatedly
insisted that the bridge will not be needed before 2020. But
the Hong Kong government has changed its position in recent months, with senior
officials, including Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Financial Secretary
Antony Leung Kam-chung, publicly supporting the bridge. Debate
over the bridge heated up recently when the managing director of Hutchison Whampoa,
Canning Fok Kin-ning, said that his group was against any government subsidies
for the project. Mr Fok has also said that the bridge is not necessary for cargo
transportation. The
South China Morning Post this month reported that intense lobbying by tycoons
had stalled a decision on the project. "Now
it seems that a major stumbling block has been cleared and everyone can really
look at the issue sensibly," the source said. "I
hope the Beijing study will settle all the worries and bring the Pearl River Delta
forward." Shiu
Sin-por, executive director of the One Country Two Systems Research Institute,
said that with agreement between Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau, the bridge project
could be given the go-ahead in six months. He
said initial consensus on the project was reached at the Mainland-Hong Kong Conference
on Co-ordination of Major Infrastructure Projects held in Shanghai this month.
4. Wary buyers see HOS flat sales hit record low
PATSY
MOY, SCMP 28 September 2002 Yesterday's
offer of the latest batch of subsidised flats fetched a record sales low of 56
per cent in the wake of the government's announcement that it wants to prop up
the property market. Market
analysts believe some families may be lured into shopping for private flats instead
after the government indicated this week that it was planning to intervene in
the property market to try to push up prices and help drag Hong Kong out of its
economic slump. Of
2,451 Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats from three projects in Lam Tin, Tai Wai
and Sha Tin that were put on sale yesterday morning, 1,080 flats or 44 per cent
remained unsold by 6pm yesterday. It
also means only 26 per cent of applicants actually bought homes, as the Housing
Authority received 5,117 applications. The
authority said it was the lowest response since HOS flats were first introduced
in 1978. The flats were usually fully sold out, the authority said, and even the
previous worst sale achieved 82 per cent in December 1999, when 1,229 flats went
unsold out of a total of 6,840 units on offer. Secretary
for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung said yesterday's sales
reflected a level of market demand "which the government has to accept".
Meanwhile, Wong
Leung-sing, chairman of the research committee at the Society of Hong Kong Real
Estate Agents, said he believed some applicants for HOS flats might turn to the
private market. "I
expect to see more families shopping around for private flats from this weekend
- some of them may be lured into buying flats in the end and some may still wait
and see. "Hong
Kong investors are always sensitive to market news," Mr Wong added. The
property agent said the poor sale had been expected as the demand for government-subsidised
flats had been dented by the fierce price war raging between private developers.
But Housing Authority
member Michael Choi Ngai-min said yesterday's sales were worse than he had expected.
Mr Choi warned
the government to consider carefully its schedule for selling the remaining HOS
flats in light of the poor market response. The
authority has around 10,000 completed HOS flats not yet put up for sale, but it
did not have the figures on the number of flats still under construction. Fellow
Housing Authority member Wong Kwun accused the government of giving a mixed signal
to the market, which he said was discouraging people from choosing HOS flats.
"The message
sent out by the government is perplexing - sometimes saying it is to stabilise
the market but now saying it is to force up the market. All this makes our potential
HOS buyers very frustrated," Mr Wong said. Meanwhile,
developers are wooing buyers with ever sweeter deals, to the extent that private
flats are being sold below their cost price. In
August Sun Hung Kai Properties released the first 26 units at Park Island in Ma
Wan for public sale at a below-cost price of $2,250 per square foot, while Cheung
Kong is offering 16 units of its Banyan Garden phase two in Cheung Sha Wan for
$2,448 per square foot. At
these prices, they represent better value than some HOS flats. Cheung
Kong executive director Justin Chiu Kwok-hung reiterated that the prices of better
quality private flats had fallen to comparable levels.
patsy.moy@scmp.com | 
