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for. 1.
Hopewell in race to build Zhuhai link 2.
MTR Corp chairman denies quit rumours 3.
Tuen Mun-airport bridge seen as route for the future 4.
MTR chairman backs merger of rail firms 5.
KCRC announces Sha Tin tender 6.
Hopewell, 2022 Foundation submit bridge plans
1. Hopewell in race to build Zhuhai link Dennis Ng and Matthew
Lee, The Standard 18 October 2002 Hopewell Holdings chairman Gordon Wu said
the company had submitted a proposal to build the Zhuhai-Macau-Hong Kong bridge
to the SAR government. Wu's confirmation came after Secretary for Environment,
Transport and Works Sarah Liao on Wednesday revealed the government had received
two proposals on the bridge. Wu said Hopewell should be able to develop
the bridge itself, adding it was too early to comment on issues such as the formation
of a consortium. He said construction could start within six months after
the mainland government had granted approval. ``The construction time will
be about three years. When can we start? After the approval probably within six
months,'' he said on RTHK's A Week in Politics last night. ``Hong Kong can
only survive if we become an important logistics centre. To integrate land, sea,
air and river transport, make it into a true logistical hub, supported by the
excellent software of Hong Kong, the banking systems, insurance, Customs service
and all these things.'' Wu said interested groups were welcome to invest
in the project. ``I think now we have the backing of most Hong Kong people
... whoever wants to invest in it, come and join the party,'' he said. The
bridge would make it possible to drive to Hainan in under nine hours and would
facilitate trade with Vietnam, he said. Earlier yesterday, before attending
Hopewell's annual general meeting, Wu said: ``It is good for many people to participate
in the plan. [The proposed bridge] is the plan of Hong Kong people, showing their
confidence in Hong Kong's future.'' He believed the Central Government would
support the proposal. The proposed bridge, which will connect Hong Kong,
Macau and Zhuhai, has sparked a heated debate. Wu said he hoped experts
from the three cities could meet and decide which plan should be used to build
the bridge. Meanwhile, Wu said the Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board had
discussed matters in relation to whether Hong Kong needed new container terminals.
The board had appointed consultants to study the feasibility, said Wu,
who is also the chairman of the board. He said Hong Kong should consider
whether it should have new ports to accommodate bigger vessels to avoid losing
container handling business to cities such as Kaohsiung in Taiwan. He said
the ports could be built on the west of Lantau Island, near the airport, adding
thatHong Kong should develop itself as a sourcing centre for southern China. He
said he also supported the government's plan to scrap infrastructure projects
with low returns.
2. MTR Corp chairman denies quit rumours Staff reporter, The
Standard 18 October 2002 MTR Corp chairman Jack So confirmed for the first
time yesterday he had neither resigned nor had he been looking for another job.
``I haven't resigned. I'm not looking for jobs and I have had no offers
so far. Actually, I'm now in talks with the government about renewing my contract
according to normal practices,'' he said. So, whose contract expires next September,
was earlier reported to have resigned. So also said his decision would
have no bearing on plans to merge the MTRC and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
(KCRC). ``Whether I renew my contract or not, the MTRC will always be the
best corporation in Asia,'' he said. The merger would be a good thing if
it took care of the interests of different parties, including staff, So said.
``The merger could reduce costs, increase cost-effectiveness, avoid overlapping
and a waste of resources. ``If the price is reasonable, it'll benefit MTRC
shareholders, as well as the sale of the second tranche of the MTRC shares, thus
generating more revenue for the Treasury,'' he said.
3. Tuen Mun-airport bridge seen as route for the future NG KANG-CHUNG,
SCMP 18 October 2002 A veteran Airport Authority member has called for the
construction of a bridge linking the airport and Tuen Mun in place of the Tsing
Lung project on Route 10. Dr Wong King-keung has urged legislators to block
the project in light of the planned Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge. The
call came on the eve of a Legislative Council transport panel meeting today to
discuss progress on a revised alignment of the southern section of the controversial
Route 10. A total of 577 objections have been received, according to the Transport
Bureau. Earlier this year, Legco blocked the construction of the northern
section of Route 10. Central to the issue is the planned Tsing Lung Bridge,
a major part of Route 10's southern section. Construction of the bridge was planned
to start next year. It was aimed to serve as an alternative link to Lantau and
the airport, supplementing the existing Tsing Ma Bridge. But in a letter
to transport panel chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee, Mr Wong said a link between
Tuen Mun and the airport should be pursued instead. "The proposed
Tsing Lung Bridge is not a weather-secure route, being exposed to strong wind
impact as is the existing Tsing Ma Bridge. "In fact, it could be worse
than the Tsing Ma Bridge as the latter at least has an enclosed lower deck which
is less affected by strong wind than the upper deck," Mr Wong wrote. He
said a Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok link would "provide an opportunity for a future
railway linkage connecting the existing Airport Express/[MTR] Tung Chung line
with the West Rail and a possible Macau-Zhuhai-Hong Kong railway". "[The
link] will provide an efficient and direct connection between [Chek Lap Kok] airport
and Shenzhen airport via the [planned] Shenzhen Western Corridor and Shekou, thus
capturing more flow of air cargo and people from the Pearl River Delta,"
wrote Mr Wong. A local residents' alliance, the Action Group Against Route
10 and Deep Bay Link, also argues that many of the projections in the government's
Third Comprehensive Transport Study have been outdated. For example, the
study estimated the traffic volume on the Lantau link would be around 83,000 vehicles
a day in 2001, but the volume was only 40,000 a day in June 2002. In a
document to panel members, the Transport Bureau said the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok
link could not help relieve traffic from Tuen Mun Road. But the bureau acknowledged
the need for the link "in the longer term" to supplement Route 10.
4. MTR chairman backs merger of rail firms FELIX CHAN, SCMP
18 October 2002 Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) chairman Jack So
Chak-kwong yesterday backed a merger of the SAR's two rail giants, even as he
defended his company's service record. His endorsement came after his counterpart
at the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), Michael Tien Puk-sun, said he
would consider taking up the top post in the merged body if the government asked
him to. Emerging from a two-hour special Legco meeting on the review of
MTR services yesterday, Mr So said the merger of the MTRC and KCRC would be good
news so long as the interests of all stakeholders were protected. "If
the two rail companies merge, it will reduce operating costs, increase efficiency
and avoid overlapping of resources. Such benefits will, in return, go back to
the passengers," he said. "Moreover, the merger will . . . expand
the network, linking up the stations so that passengers would not need to leave
one system first before entering another, for a smoother traffic flow." The
Executive Council had instructed the administration in June to study a merger.
The findings are expected to be released at the end of the month. Mr So
said that contrary to newspaper reports that he had tendered his resignation,
talks on renewing his three-year contract - due to expire next September - had
just begun. In any case, "whether I renew my contract or not, I feel
the MTRC will continue to be the best company in Hong Kong and Asia", he
said. "The MTRC is a strong company and has a very great leadership as well
as a good management system," he added. At the Legco meeting, Mr So
and MTR operations director Phil Gaffney denied lawmakers' claims that problems
with the railway's signalling system and new Korean-built trains had compromised
passenger safety. A government probe into the delays and problems that
had plagued MTR services since August concluded that the rail system was performing
at high safety and service standards. However, legislators said they were
concerned about recent problems with the signalling system and the new trains'
doors. Democrat legislator Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said he went to Seoul early
this month to visit Rotem, the new trains' maker. He claimed Rotem executives
told him it would take six to eight weeks to fine-tune the new Siemens onboard
computers to the existing signalling system. He said he was also told that
the new, quieter trains were not suited to a heavy passenger load, such as in
Hong Kong. However, Mr So said Rotem executives had denied making such
remarks to the lawmaker, while Mr Gaffney said the fine-tuning of the new signalling
system would take another two months. felix.chan@scmp.com
5. KCRC announces Sha Tin tender SOPHIA WONG, SCMP 18 October
2002 The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp (KCRC) has told developers that it
plans to tender a HK$3 billion Sha Tin property project next week, in a move analysts
say might damage bidding for a rival Mass Transit Railway Corp (MTRC) development.
Developers received the news in a letter from the KCRC yesterday, sources
said. The announcement came just a day before the tender for the MTRC's HK$6 billion
Tiu Keng Leng Station project in Tseung Kwan O was due to close. Analysts
said the timing of the tender showed Hong Kong's two rail corporations were competing
for developers' capital, with the KCRC hoping to deflect attention from the MTRC's
project. Potential bidders for the Tiu Keng Leng development might be tempted
to preserve funds for the Sha Tin project, where land and flats supply was more
scarce, they said. The competition for developers' cash comes despite the
formation in June of a government-led committee - including both railway companies
- to regulate land supply. "It is clear that their former agreement is hard
to comply with. KCRC is trying to draw more developers and get better terms for
its own project," said SK Pang Surveyors managing director Pang Shiu-kee.
"Although it said land supply has been scrutinised, the government
cannot control them as it has granted development rights to the two railway companies."
Sources said the KCRC said in its letter that the 1.5 million-sq-ft residential
project at Ho Tung Lau would be tendered for sale on October 21 at the earliest.
A KCRC spokesman declined to comment on whether the tender was timed to
draw bidders from the MTRC project. The spokesman said the KCRC had received
the government's proposed land premium charge for the Ho Tung Lau development
and was considering the offer. Bidding for the 2.6-million-sq-ft residential-retail
development at Tiu Keng Leng Station, which closes today, is expected to be conservative
because of the high investment cost and abundant supply of land in the Tseung
Kwan O district. Sun Hung Kai Properties would bid on its own for the project,
a spokesman said yesterday, but other companies would not confirm whether they
would take part. Mr Pang said he did not expect that bidding for the Tiu
Keng Leng project would aggressive. He urged the government to stop granting
development rights as a subsidy for railway developments to ensure an orderly
supply of land. In the past, the government typically has granted the rail companies
the rights to develop land along their lines. They sell the rights to developers
in exchange for up-front fees or a share of the profits from the development,
which helps to finance the railway construction. "The best [option]
is to put all the future rail-related land on the government's land-sale application
list," Mr Pang said. Under the application list, land is released
for sale only when a developer guarantees a minimum acceptable price.
6. Hopewell, 2022 Foundation submit bridge plans ERIC NG and
DENISE TSANG, SCMP 18 October 2002 Infrastructure firm Hopewell Holdings
and the 2022 Foundation have submitted two separate proposals to build a bridge
linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, according to a government source. Hopewell
chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung yesterday confirmed after the company's annual
general meeting that it had put forward a proposal for the bridge. However
he said it was too early to tell whether the company would play a leading role
in the project as it had not been decided whether it would be led by the government
or the private sector. The proposal put forward by 2022 Foundation - backed
by various companies including Sun Hung Kai Properties, Kerry Group, CLP Holdings
and Li & Fung (1937) - is believed to provide an additional link to Shekou
in Western Shenzhen. Sir Gordon said the bridge would allow Hong Kong to
better tap labour and land resources in the western part of Guangdong, which is
cheaper than Dongguan and Shenzhen. He believed Beijing would consider
the interests of various parties before making decisions on the bridge's construction.
The proposed project is being studied by the Transport Research Institute
of the State Development Planning Commission which visited Hong Kong last month
to gather data and opinions. Sir Gordon did not respond directly when asked
if Hopewell's proposal would include other logistics facilities, but said the
Port and Maritime Board that he chaired yesterday discussed the feasibility of
building a deep-sea port in Hong Kong to bolster its position as a logistics hub.
He said the so-called third-generation container vessels with the capacity
to carry more than 7,000 containers at present could not enter the port in Hong
Kong as they required a deeper port than the 14.4 metres available. There
are more than 30 such vessels worldwide and they can dock at the Kaohsiung port
in Taiwan, while Shanghai and Singapore were planning to build deep-sea ports,
he added. Sir Gordon believed the best location for the proposed port was
the western part of Lantau Island because the water was deep there, at about 20
metres. ''But of course when we study the feasibility of a new port, the interests
of existing port operators have to be considered - such as whether they will be
allowed to participate and whether their interests will be affected.'' Hutchison
Whampoa is the operator of the SAR's largest container terminal, and is opposed
to Sir Gordon's bridge proposal. An infrastructure consultant said he believed
the 2022 Foundation's proposal would be more expensive than Sir Gordon's, which
was estimated to cost HK$15 billion. ''The bridge put forth by the 2022
Foundation branching out to Shekou is more complicated and will cost at least
HK$30 billion to build, or at least double that of Sir Gordon's proposal,'' he
said. ''However, Sir Gordon's estimate of HK$15 billion on his proposal is not
realistic either.'' The consultant cited the HK$9 billion cost of a much
smaller scale bridge planned to link Tsing Lung Tau and Lantau. ''The costs of
the two cross-border bridges will be even higher if railways are added,'' the
consultant said. Sir Gordon did not name the three banks which he indicated
would support the project. ''You should not worry about money, because the money
will be there at the end. The most important thing for now is that Hong Kong people
have a consensus on the need for the project.''
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