SKYLINE Technologies -- News Update ( 30 October 2004 )

Click-on these handy "jump links" to quickly access the news item
you're looking for.

1. Second Lantau fun park plan causes alarm
CARRIE CHAN , SCMP 30 October 2004

Lantau community groups have expressed doubts over the government's aim to build another theme park on the island to complement Disneyland, worrying it will further encroach on local culture.

They are also disappointed that the government taskforce on the island's development held secret meetings, even though officials said they were willing to conduct public consultation by the end of the year.

Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, who headed the taskforce, floated the possibility this week of building another theme park with thrill rides on the northern part of the island to attract young visitors. The possible partners are Warner Brothers, Six Flags or Universal Studio.

Other possible developments include a logistics park, a tourism hub at Sunny Bay, a golf course and resort in northeast Lantau, as well as spa and resort facilities in the south. The plan also proposes enlarging the island's country parks.

Bob Bunker, a spokesman for the Living Island Movement, said the government had given few details and should show why each proposal was necessary.

"We're pleased the government indicated it wants to have more public consultation instead of putting up ideas. But we are disappointed that the taskforce's meetings were held in secrecy," he said.

"There is also no information on why we should pay out money for logistics companies to benefit."

Taxpayers had also paid out a lot for the Disney park at Penny's Bay and there should be a cost-benefit analysis on why another park was needed. Most of the proposals sounded innocent, but there was no way of knowing their scale.

"They talked about a resort at Cheung Sha. Does that mean a canteen or a Discovery Bay? These are the questions we would like answered," he said.

Loy Ho, founder of Lantau's first arts festival and newspaper Lantau Post, doubts a theme park could blend in with local culture.

"We already have Disneyland, which we can't change. Another theme park, considered a product from outside, is again an encroachment on local culture. This is uncivilised. I wonder if this is their way of creating jobs. They tend to look at the numbers," she said.

"If locals are allowed to do these projects on their own, we can do it with less money because we are the ones who care about the development most," she said. "For example, we initiated the facelift in Mui Wo and we are very excited about it. The businessmen and the artists are working together very well," she said.

Community group Save our Shorelines yesterday urged the Town Planning Board to consider building a 1.1km pipe-style tunnel linking Central and Western to alleviate traffic problems, instead of the government's proposed six-lane Central and Wan Chai bypass road.

The tunnel, built using a giant submerged tube, would require less than 5 hectares of harbour reclamation, compared with 18 hectares of harbour for the bypass plan. The government plan would also involve constructing a tunnel on the same course, but under reclaimed land.

The group has submitted a report on its proposal to the Town Planning Board. It said the current zoning plan, which includes the government's bypass proposal, should be sent back to the planning board for amendment.

The proposed tunnel, running between Two IFC and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, would take the form of a submerged tube, lowered into place in a dredged trench on the seabed. Reclamation would be required only at the ends of the tunnel.

The tunnel's highest point for most of its length would be at least 6 metres below sea level to allow ships to pass safely overhead.

Group chairman John Bowden said both the government's plan and his group's solution delivered tunnels of the same size but differed greatly in reclamation requirements.

"It is an alternative plan which fulfils the spirit and legal interpretation of the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance," he said. "The government claims [its] road tunnel and reclamation complies with the rules laid down by the Court of Final Appeal. [But our plan] defines the extent of a minimum reclamation solution for the bypass using an underwater tunnel."

Mr Bowden said his group's plan could save $1 billion. The group found no evidence that an underwater tunnel had been fully explored by the government.

The High Court handed down a judgment on March 9, rejecting the Society for Protection of the Harbour's application for a judicial review of the Central reclamation.

3. Bridging the green gap
BILL BARRON and PAUL ZIMMERMAN , SCMP 30 October 2004

To move towards sustainable development in practice, decisions must be evaluated and modified in light of its principles. For the planned Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge, the governments involved should first evaluate the environmental sustainability of accelerating development of the western Pearl River Delta. The bridge project should only be given the go-ahead when ways of reducing pollution elsewhere have been identified - and implemented.

More than just a road link, the bridge is intended to open up the western delta to industrial expansion and to entice cargo shipments via Hong Kong. While the growth of Hong Kong's economic hinterland is appealing, we need to ask how this added development can be made environmentally sustainable.

The delta's air quality is bad, and getting worse. Even by our own rather lax air-quality objectives, we now breathe pervasively unhealthy air. For more and more of the year, the air we share with the rest of the delta is well beyond its capacity to absorb the current pollutant loads.

As bridge proponents argue, there is about a three-hour driving-time limit from Hong Kong that local entrepreneurs use for locating their factories. In the eastern delta, Dongguan is about at this limit. A bridge to Zhuhai and Macau would open up similar opportunities for development to Zhongshan, and with new highways, to Shunde or beyond.

Satellite photos of the delta show that the western side is relatively green today, whereas the eastern area is built up, generating much of the air pollution. The bridge would roughly double the size of Hong Kong's industrial hinterland. Today, there are between 40 and 50 million people living and working in the delta. With the opening up of the west, this could easily increase by 20 per cent. Even if all the extra 10 to 15 million people are engaged in relatively clean manufacturing practices, their sheer numbers will increase demand for electricity, transport and other energy-intensive (and potentially polluting) activities.

We are already choking at the present levels of population and economic activity. How are we to accommodate these new emissions?

The Hong Kong and Guangdong governments need to develop an up-to-date emissions inventory, including a detailed assessment of the quantity and quality of the fuel being used for backup power generation by individual factories. Once we know the details of the emissions, we should cap them (for now) and allow the financing and construction of the bridge to go ahead only when we have implemented measures to combat air pollution elsewhere in the delta.

The inventory will help prioritise matters. A prime area for action would appear to be the inadequate power generation capacity in Guangdong. As a result, tens of thousands of factories upwind of Hong Kong employ their own, inefficient power generators. This is made worse by the use of low-quality fuel. In fighting air pollutants, improvements in fuel quality are a highly cost-effective first step.

An improvement closer to home would be a greater reliance on natural gas for Hong Kong's power generation. Indeed, an important part of the long-term solution is a more natural-gas-intensive energy economy for the delta, supported by more and larger liquefied natural gas terminals.

We need to work with Guangdong to reduce pollutant emissions in the delta. Sustainable solutions will not come overnight, but if we fail to make the financing and construction of the bridge conditional, it is unlikely that we will again enjoy relatively clean air in our lifetime, or even in our children's.

Bill Barron is an associate professor in the Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management at the University of Hong Kong. Paul Zimmerman is principal of The Experience Group, a policy and strategy consultancy, and convenor of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District.

4. Delta bridge seen creating more air pollution
RAVINA SHAMDASANI , SCMP 30 October 2004

Heavy industry is a common sight in Dongguan. Environmentalists are concerned about the pace of development in the area. Picture by Robert Ng

Air pollution in the territory will worsen if a bridge is built across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai, two experts on planning and the environment say.

Bill Barron, associate professor in the University of Hong Kong's centre of urban planning and environmental management, and Paul Zimmerman, convenor of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District, have called on the Hong Kong government and mainland authorities to evaluate the environmental sustainability of accelerating development of the western delta.

They said the government should only allow the bridge to proceed when air pollution "offsets" have been identified elsewhere, because of the inevitable increase in energy-intensive activities completion of the bridge would bring.

"We are already choking at current levels of population and economic activity," they write in the South China Morning Post today. They call on the Hong Kong and Guangdong governments to develop "an up-to-date emissions inventory".

Friends of the Earth assistant director Edwin Lau Che-feng agreed with Professor Barron and Mr Zimmerman. He said the government should come to terms with the fact that economic development depended on many factors.

"The government should think about citizens and the environment, not just single-mindedly about economic interests. You cannot just have economic development and forget about environmental and social issues," he said.

"If later there is a high rate of people going to the hospital because of pollution, the government will have to pay huge amounts of public money to deal with it and productivity of workers will also drop if more get sick."

A spokeswoman from the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau said Hong Kong and Guangdong had been working to control air pollution "in a holistic manner, rather than deal with individual projects [and pollution] sources in a piecemeal manner".

She said the two governments were setting up a regional air-quality monitoring network this year and were close to completing a manual for compiling emissions inventories.

5. Property giant out to build more on arts hub site
GARY CHEUNG , SCMP 30 October 2004

Like other developers bidding for the contract to build the West Kowloon arts hub, Henderson Land is proposing a higher-density development than the government wants.

But it would stick closer to the government target than some rivals, said Henderson Land vice-chairman Colin Lam Ko-yin, who called the company's proposed plot ratio "quite restrained".

The property giant's bid for the project proposes a plot ratio - representing a project's developed area compared to its site area - of 2.5, including 0.7 for cultural facilities. The government set the overall plot ratio at 1.81, but Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said last year the winner could have a high ratio if essential.

Architects have estimated the 1.81 plot ratio could result in 7,600 flats being built, with the gross floor area of the project estimated at 10 million sq ft.

Henderson's solo bid is competing for the project with a Sun Hung Kai Properties-Cheung Kong joint venture; Swire Properties; and a consortium comprising Sino Land, Wharf (Holdings), Chinese Estates Holdings and K Wah Group. Other bidders have sought a plot ratio as high as three.

Due for completion in 2012, the $24 billion project on a reclaimed site near Kowloon Station will include theatres, museums, shops and flats.

The initial plan is for shops, flats and cultural facilities to occupy about 30 per cent of the site each.

Henderson Land Development chairman Lee Shau-kee said he was determined to win the bid, saying he would not mind losing billions of dollars in operating the cultural hub.

"We won't let Hong Kong people down or make them lose face," the tycoon said. The West Kowloon development has become a centre of controversy since the government unveiled its plan to turn the prime waterfront site into a world-class cultural zone last September.

Its decision to hand over the project to a single developer for 30 years has sparked criticism from smaller developers, who say the scheme favoured big developers.

Mr Lam said his company would invite museums on the mainland and in Europe, including the Pompidou Centre in Paris, to co-operate in operating the West Kowloon arts hub if it won the bid.

Meanwhile, Henderson will join forces with the Arts Development Council and the Arts Centre to display paintings and art collections in shopping malls operated by the company from November 24.

Darwin Che, chairman of the Arts Development Council, said it was a good beginning for collaboration between the arts and business sectors to promote arts in the community.