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1. KCRC's trade-hub project rejected

1. KCRC's trade-hub project rejected
CHLOE LAI and ERNEST KONG, SCMP 20 November 2004

A plan to turn Hunghom and Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront into an international China trade hub was rejected by the Town Planning Board yesterday.

The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation wanted to rezone the area between its building at the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade and the Hong Kong Coliseum to build an exhibition centre, towers, a cruise terminal and a heliport.

The board's spokesman said members rejected the application because it had received no government support.

They were also worried that the excessive scale of the plan could increase traffic, noise, marine and air pollution.

The KCRC said it would address the board's concerns and reapply again. The plan covers a site area of 14.5 hectares, including the Hong Kong Coliseum, the Hunghom rail terminal and the International Mailing Centre.

The coliseum and mailing centre are government buildings.

The plan assumes the mailing centre will be demolished and the land will be vacant for development, although the centre is currently operated by the post office and the government had not announced any plan to redevelop it. The KCRC wants the rail terminal to have a facelift, but will leave the coliseum alone.

It wants to build office towers, a shopping mall, hotels, residential blocks, exhibition centre, showrooms, wholesale centre and an arbitrary centre at the site.

The board's spokesman said: "The plan [is based] on a lot of assumptions, such as the rail express between Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou [having] its terminal at Hunghom so it has a big potential to become a China trade hub.

"But no decision on the terminal location has been made so far. Also, the government doesn't think Hong Kong needs extra exhibition space in Hunghom."