SKYLINE Technologies -- News Update (10 November 2005 )

10 November 2005

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1. Developer loses fight over SoHo renewal

2. Cultural district plan under attack

3. Shortlisted developer warns of delays if new bids are sought

1. Developer loses fight over SoHo renewal
Albert Wong, The Standard 10 November 2005

One of Hong Kong's largest property developers, Henderson Land, has lost a High Court battle against an urban renewal project in the trendy SoHo area that was first proposed eight years ago.

Since late 1997, the site, which includes Staunton Street and Wing Lee Street, was designated a Comprehensive Development Area covering 4,400 square meters.

The Urban Renewal Authority planned to provide about 520 flats, 2,800 sqm of retail space, about 855 sqm of open space and a memorial square in honor of Sun Yat Sen, who once lived in the area.

But various lots of property in Staunton Street, Wa In Fong East and Cheung Wo Lane - all of which were incorporated into the development area - are owned by Henderson Land.

The property giant has been lobbying the Town Planning Board to remove its properties from the scheme since 2003.

Residents, meanwhile, who would be eligible for redevelopment compensation, have been protesting about delayed payouts.

Of 183 households that may be affected by the project, 60 are on Henderson sites. More than 400 people have written to the board to approve the renewal scheme.

The developer initiated its judicial review after the Town Planning Board in March 2004 decided not to accept their proposed amendments. Henderson claimed the board had failed to balance the interests of private landowners.

Justice Carlye Chu Wednesday ruled that the board is not an "appeals board" and does not have the power nor the duty to adjudicate.

But residents will still have to wait indefinitely for their payouts.

A spokesman for the Urban Renewal Authority said the board has yet to complete its approval of the scheme.

Even if there is no appeal by the developer, the board will still have to submit its decision to the Executive Council to await further approval before the authority can acquire the land and pay residents.

After the publication by the Planning and Lands Bureau of an "Urban Renewal Scheme" in 2001, the SoHo area was put on the priority list for redevelopment.

In March 2003, the authority submitted its draft plans to the board for consideration. Henderson Land made its objections to the board in December 2003 and again the following March. Their proposals were rejected.

In a judicial review, Henderson Land claimed the interests of private property owners were being unlawfully subsumed by the Urban Renewal Authority, especially since the developer had already been given permission by the Building Authority and the Town Planning Board itself to conduct its own developments.

It further claimed the board had been unreasonable in refusing to amend the scheme, since there was no evidence to suggest that the removal of Henderson properties would jeopardize it.

"The planning permission previously approved by the board," for Henderson to conduct its own development, "does not give rise to a presumption in favor of preserving the applicants' rights," Chu ruled.

The board's opinion that the redevelopment scheme is not viable without Henderson's properties "are matters for planning judgment, which the board is entitled to take," the judge ruled.

She noted that the Urban Renewal Authority is also obliged by law to take due care of its finances.

If the renewal scheme cannot proceed and generate wealth for the authority, "public interest will be affected in that there will not be urban renewal either in the scheme area or other areas," she noted.

The Town Planning Board welcomed the ruling.

2. Cultural district plan under attack
Albert Wong, The Standard 10 November 2005

The government's West Kowloon Cultural District could be facing more troubles as a legal challenge was filed Wednesday objecting to the very foundations of the planning process for the project.

James Wong, a frequent critic of the planning process, has applied for a judicial review of actions taken on West Kowloon by the Town Planning Board.

The project's Outline Zoning Plan adopted by the board grants a provisional agreement to an as-yet- unnamed developer even before public consultation on the HK$40 billion project is complete.

Democratic lawmaker Albert Ho, who is backing Wong, said Wednesday that "the Town Planning Board has effectively made itself a consultant to the government behind closed doors."

This makes it impossible for the board to give impartial consideration to any objection raised in the subsequent public consultation process, according to a writ made available in the High Court Wednesday.

The Town Planning Board acted unlawfully when it adopted this "two- stage approach" which requires the board "to give its agreement to a proposed development scheme [on the West Kowloon reclamation site] before it has carried out its statutory duty to hear and consider objections," the writ said.

The effect of the approach is to remove "all public input into the planning process" for West Kowloon until a later stage when the proposal has already been approved by both the board and the government.

"It is clear that this exclusion of public participation is at variance with the legislative intent" of the board's statutory duties, the writ said.

Furthermore, the board's statutory function is for the "preparation of plans" and not "the giving of agreement to a proposal," the writ claimed.

Ho said, given the "very serious commitment" it makes in stage one, "the government is unable to act fairly in stage two" when it is supposed to listen to the views of the public and consider objections.

He hopes the judicial review will force the authorities "to seriously reconsider the planning procedure."

A spokesperson for the Town Planning Board said it has yet to receive the writ but "will take appropriate action accordingly."

The writ said: "The development of the southernmost part of the West Kowloon reclamation is one of the most important projects in modern Hong Kong. It will determine the appearance of the central harborside area of the city for many years."

But the proposals have so far been "impermissibly uncertain and vague" with very limited information in the public domain, it added.

Wong, who is a professional artist and claims he will be affected by how the cultural district is handled, has been submitting comments and alternative proposals for the area since 2003.

In an "explanatory statement" issued in July 2003, with the gazetting of rezoning of land into "other specified use" the board made it known it would be adopting a "two-stage approach" for the implementation of "WKCD." In the first stage, states the "explanatory statement," the preferred scheme will be submitted to the board to enter into a "Provisional Agreement" without first needing the approval of the chief executive in council and without going through public consultation.

The writ claims that in the Town Planning Board Ordinance, "it is clear from the provision for exhibition of draft plans and consideration of objections that meaningful public participation in the planning process is part of the legislative intent.

"Against this statutory background, the board has no power to agree a development proposal which has not been exhibited and had objections to it considered."

By stage two, the provisional agreement puts the board under "heavy pressure not to uphold any objections, the writ said.

There has never been any explanation for the "two-stage approach" and it has never been implemented before, the writ claimed.

In any case, "the information provided to the public about the operation of the two-stage procedure is so limited" that the lack of clarity itself makes the procedure unlawful, it said.

Before the current proposals, the site had been earmarked for a waterfront park. In 1998, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa announced a "state-of- the-art performance venue" for the site. Concept plans were submitted in 2001 followed by invitations to developers for preliminary plans in 2003.

Last month, the government buckled under pressure and announced a scaled-down proposal for the development of the 40-hectare harborfront site at the southern tip of the West Kowloon reclamation into what it calls a "world- class cultural district."

The new proposal sought to allay fears that the government colluded with big developers by limiting the land open to a single developer to 20 hectares and opening up the other half to multiple developers.

Under the revised proposal, one of the three short-listed bidders will win sole-development rights to at least half of the residential and commercial land, with the remaining land put up for open tender.

The three finalists are Henderson Land's World City Culture Park; 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.

3. Shortlisted developer warns of delays if new bids are sought
MAY CHAN, SCMP 10 November 2005

Sun Hung Kai chairman Walter Kwok Ping-shueng, centre, shows Chief Executive
Donald Tsang, left, and the director of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, Gao Siren,
a model of the 118-storey tower. Picture by Robert Ng

Re-tendering the West Kowloon Cultural District project will only cause further delay, one of the shortlisted developers warned yesterday.

Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong, vice-chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties, also said there were still a lot of uncertainties over the project, including design requirements and the operation of a $30 billon trust fund for arts facilities.

"The West Kowloon project involves complicated issues, and the preparation work for the tender will take one to two years," he said.

Mr Kwok was speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the International Commerce Centre, a 118-storey tower which will be the tallest building in Hong Kong and third-tallest in the world on its completion in 2010.

Hung Lung Properties chairman Ronnie Chan Chi-chung demanded on Tuesday that the government order a new round of tenders for the project.

The administration scrapped the unpopular single-developer approach in September. However, the three shortlisted proponents - Dynamic Star International, a Sun Hung Kai Properties and Cheung Kong (Holdings) consortium; Sunny Development, a joint venture between Sino Land, Wharf (Holdings) and Chinese Estates Holdings; and World City Culture Park, a subsidiary of Henderson Land - were allowed to go ahead bidding for the key parts of the project.

However, Colin Lam Ko-yin, vice-chairman of Henderson Land, was open to the possibility of re-tendering.

"The site in West Kowloon is a very precious piece of land to the public, and it involves huge investments," he said. "Detailed studies to maximise its economic benefits may be worth pursuing."