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1. Designs on making Disco Bay a hip destination

2. KCRC refuses to blame contractor for signal failures

3. City University announces $1.9b campus expansion

4. Building on experience to preserve city's heritage

5. Huge hub changes as Tsang buckles

1. Designs on making Disco Bay a hip destination
PEGGY SITO, SCMP 4 October 2005

Discovery Bay is pitching for the tourism dollar by jumping on the culture bandwagon with a $1.5 billion development including a hotel, entertainment and shopping complex.

Developer HKR International hopes to turn the community on Lantau Island into a high-end "coastal leisure and entertainment landmark" not only for the benefit of its residents but to draw visitors from elsewhere in Hong Kong and overseas.

The plan includes building a five-star hotel and shopping centre at Yi Pak Wan. Work on the site is already under way.

Victor Cha Mou-zing, managing director of HKR International, which owns 50 per cent of Discovery Bay, said there was plenty of potential from the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland in nearby Penny's Bay.

"Disneyland travellers will be part of our targeted customers."

As part of the plan, Yi Pak Wan will be turned into a leisure area with a European village flavour, which will serve as a venue for cultural and arts activities. Features will include a chapel, spa and cooking school.

The existing Discovery Bay Plaza in Tai Pak Wan will be renovated and expanded to ensure it is in keeping with the new look.

Mr Cha said he had noted residents' concerns that the new development in Yi Pak Wan would disturb the quiet lifestyle of Discovery Bay.

However, the development was not only aimed at drawing new customers, but upgrading the whole of Discovery Bay, he said.

"Residents will be the first to enjoy the new facilities."

Mr Cha said he could not predict how many visitors the developments would draw to Discovery Bay. But to avoid as far as possible any disturbance to residents, the company would introduce a sight-seeing cruise for tourists, with a fleet of boats travelling between Tai Pak Wan and Yi Pak Wan.

Mr Cha said he hoped the sight-seeing ferries would divert the traffic flow and help alleviate crowds. But residential areas could still experience an increase of visitors.

"It is not realistic to disallow non-residents entering Disco Bay. But we are trying our best to protect the [quiet] living environment for residents."

The development programme will be completed in the next two to three years, with the new shopping arcade to be ready in 2007.

The hotel, which will provide 320 rooms and 50 serviced apartments, is scheduled for completion in 2008.

2. KCRC refuses to blame contractor for signal failures
ANITA LAM, SCMP

KCRC officials admitted the design of West Rail's signalling system had some "deviation", but they said it would be unfair to ask the contractor to shoulder the costs of a $20 million improvement project.

The admission in the Legislative Council's transport panel meeting came after the corporation singled out stormy weather as the cause of 13 signal failures this year that led to a disruption of services and delayed commuters for up to 4-1/2 hours in July.

Lawmakers attacked the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation in yesterday's panel meeting, criticising it for lacking the courage to carry out its responsibilities.

"It is not the first year Hong Kong has had stormy weather - are you telling me that this is unpredictable? Why don't you pursue the contractor for the [$20 million in] costs?" said Lau Kong-wah, vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

Andrew Cheng Kar-foo, of the Democratic Party, also expressed his concerns.

"If stormy weather is your excuse, I'd be so worried that our West Rail system is so fragile that it can't even stand a single strike," said Mr Cheng.

Signal and communications systems manager Henry Cheung said contractor Alcatel Canada agreed to lengthen the free maintenance period to the end of this year.

Mr Cheung insisted the request for an extension had nothing to do with the quality of the design.

"We foresaw the possibility of stormy weather, but our design adhered to international standards, and unfortunately the amount of lightning this year was higher than in other years. This is a fact, there's a little deviation in our predictions" of the effect of the weather on the signalling system.

KCRC senior transport director Li Yun-tai said the corporation could not seek compensation from the contractor.

Alcatel "did everything requested in the contract ... We could have added some extra requirements, but that would have implied extra costs as well", he said.

Mr Li said the $20 million investment, which would be used to add more earthing connections to help transmit high-voltage electricity from lightning strikes to the ground, was part of the maintenance budget, so the corporation would not pass on the burden to passengers.

Referring to a July accident, he said the corporation would install prominent signs and alarms to remind train drivers to slow down before entering the depot.

3. City University announces $1.9b campus expansion
CHANDRA WONG, SCMP 4 October 2005

City University has outlined a $1.9 billion expansion plan in preparation for the move to four-year degree courses and expected student growth in the next decade.

Dennis Sun Tai-lun, chairman of its community relations committee, unveiled the development plan yesterday after the government approved partial funding and an interest-free loan for the construction of three academic blocks.

A $500 million creative media building, in Kowloon Tong, is expected to be in service in 2008.

The other two projects, a $600 million community college and a $530 million academic-administrative building covering 14,000 square metres for the four-year undergraduate curriculum, are expected to be built inside the Kowloon Tong campus and be finished in 2009 and 2012, respectively.

"The university requires additional space to ease its overcrowded campus and cater for an increasing student population due to the planned four-year undergraduate curriculum and expanding self-financed programmes," Dr Sun said.

The university expects that by the 2012 academic year, the number of undergraduate students will jump from 9,600 to 11,500, whereas the number in the self-financed programmes will total 6,800, up from 4,600.

4. Building on experience to preserve city's heritage
ANDY CHENG, SCMP 4 October 2005

After 13 years with the URA, Marina Lo is in a key position
to tackle its "outdated" approach. Picture by Dustin Shum

Marina Lo Kai-man's work used to involve knocking down old buildings - now she works to preserve them.

For more than a decade, Ms Lo, a former commercial director with the Urban Renewal Authority (URA), played a part in pulling down the city's old buildings and maximising returns from redevelopments.

But now the 51-year-old is doing the opposite - fighting to preserve buildings that are of significant cultural value.

As project director for the Conservancy Association's centre for heritage, she is coming up with ways to enhance the community's understanding of their heritage and culture, such as through exhibitions and a website.

"The aim for community education is to equip people with the knowledge they need to voice their thoughts on the city's redevelopment to the government," she says.

To Ms Lo - a lover of arts, heritage and contemporary painting - her change in jobs was not something awkward, but exactly what she wanted.

From 1988 to 2001, she worked for the Lands Development Council, which was renamed the Urban Renewal Authority in 2000. She then worked at Kadoorie Farm before landing a job with the Conservancy Association this year.

She says a lot of the city's buildings carry the public's collective memories, but many of them are disappearing.

With 13 years' experience in urban renewal, Ms Lo is quick to point out a key problem with the current redevelopment approach - the fact the authority only offers cash as compensation for affected property owners.

She says vocal objections from residents over recent renewals - including Wan Chai's Wedding Card Street - indicate the authority's traditional assumptions that people only want cash compensation and are not concerned about their districts are wrong.

"These assumptions are outdated. We can see that residents, in fact, value their district's social network a lot.

"For example, some residents feel it is important to play mahjong with neighbours."

While the URA is responsible for implementing the government's renewal policy, Ms Lo says it can also act as a mediator between developers and residents.

She says it is not difficult to formulate different options to tackle the concerns of residents leaving their districts.

"One option can involve residents in the redevelopment process. Instead of cash compensation, they can be given a stake in the renewal project according to the price of their property," she says.

"Their returns will peg with their stakes in the project and they will have the priority to buy flats in the redeveloped area.

"All these are just calculations - it is not a very difficult task," she says.

5. Huge hub changes as Tsang buckles
Carrie Chan, The Standard 4 October 2005

The government is expected to make sweeping changes to the West Kowloon Cultural District project, placing restrictions on how much land will be available for residential and commercial uses and cutting in half the amount of land available to a single developer, sources said Monday.

The government is expected to make sweeping changes to the West Kowloon Cultural District project, placing restrictions on how much land will be available for residential and commercial uses and cutting in half the amount of land available to a single developer, sources said Monday.

The new proposals are expected to be tabled by Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui at today's Executive Council meeting.

According to a senior government source, the administration will likely propose allowing a developer to bid for only 50 percent of the 40-hectare site, with the remaining land being made available on open tender.

The new conditions also stipulate that the cultural side of the project must take up 30 percent of the area, with residential blocks comprising 20 percent and the remaining 50 percent of the site for commercial, recreational and tourism-related venues, the source said.

The remaining 20 hectares are to be broken up into various land slots for open tender to other developers. "With these new conditions, [Chief Executive] Donald Tsang intends to put an end to allegations of collusion between government and big business," the source said.

"It gives in to strong public demands to open up the project to other developers. These calls were also made by the Real Estate Developers Association, which wanted a share of the pie," the source said. "With the scrapping of the single-developer approach and the setup of the West Kowloon Authority, the project will no longer be a single developer-led project."

Macau gaming tycoon Stanley Ho, who chairs the Real Estate Developers Association, had been a huge thorn in Tsang's side, demanding that the government abandon the single developer approach to the HK$40 billion project.

The government will also insist on a standard plot ratio of 1.81 in developing the cultural hub by capping the commercial and residential development to a reasonable portion.

The three bidding consortia have submitted development plans with plot ratios varying from 4.33, 3.28 to 2.5.

Three consortia - Henderson Land Development; a joint bid by Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Sun Hung Kai Properties called Dynamic Star International; and Sunny Development, a consortium of Sino Land, Wharf Holdings and Chinese Estates Holdings - are on a short list to develop the site.

"We are determined to thwart any plans to turn the waterfront into a concrete jungle of residential blocks," the source said.

The revised proposal is to be put to the three bidders for consideration, giving them until February next year to come back with counter-arguments.

The government, however, will not bow to calls to drop the controversial glass canopy, which is expected to cover 52 percent of the cultural district.

There will also be a cluster of four museums, three theaters of 400, 800 and 2,000 seats, as well as an auditorium seating 10,000. Last week, a source with one of the developers said one of the three short-listed bidders will be chosen to develop core cultural features and build the giant canopy.

The source said the project's cost will be significantly lower and the role of the successful bidder strictly limited.

The government is also drafting legislation to set up a statutory body to oversee the West Kowloon Cultural District, similar to the Airport Authority.

"Preparations for drafting new legislation for the setup of a statutory body to monitor the West Kowloon project are underway. Most probably, new legislation for the authority will be introduced to the Legislative Council in October 2006," the source said.

The revised conditions will also require the winning bidder to inject billions of cash into the new authority, which would pay for the administration's operating costs, cultural performances and canopy maintenance costs.

The new authority, expected to be chaired by Hui, will comprise representatives from the government, business leaders and various social sector groups.

The authority is to supervise granting of land leases, the construction of the cultural hub and exploring ways for developing culture.