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1. Star Ferry clock tower may live again

1. Star Ferry clock tower may live again
CHLOE LAI , SCMP 15 November 2006

The government will consider reconstructing the Star Ferry clock tower somewhere along the Central waterfront, Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung said yesterday.

Speaking at the Legislative Council's planning, lands and works panel, Mr Suen ruled out preserving the tower at its present site, citing technical difficulties and contractual claims.

"The most valuable part of the clock tower is the collective memory," he said, adding that the developers did "not have high [regard] for its architecture". It was impossible to preserve it where it was but "we can blend it into the future design of the Central waterfront".

But he said the old pier building did not fit in with the future Central waterfront.

Mr Suen also said the government had conducted public consultation over the future of the Star Ferry Pier, and the decision to demolish it had gone through due process. Mr Suen's deputy, Robin Ip Man-fai, told the panel the clock tower would be demolished early next month and the entire pier would be gone by early next year. He did not say why the clock tower would be the first to go.

Civic Party legislator Alan Leong Kah-kit said there should be no demolition until the government came up with a plan on how and where to rebuild the clock tower.

Conservationists are disappointed by the government's latest plan.

They said the government had a different concept of conservation to the public.

Betty Ho Siu-fong of the Conservancy Association said: "The people love the pier building. Their memory is with the entire building, not just the clock tower. The pier is an icon of Hong Kong . Did any one of them go to the pier on Saturday evening to talk to the people there?"

Patsy Cheung Man-wah, of See Network, a group promoting sustainable development, said: "The government shouldn't demolish any part of the pier until it comes up with a design for reconstruction. Imagine when you're moving home, you must make your new home ready first.

"Any study on the future of the pier should include [preserving it where it is] so future generations will know where the old shoreline is," Ms Cheung said. The Star Ferry moved to the new pier on Sunday.

About 150,000 people caught the ferry on Saturday to bid farewell to the 48-year-old Edinburgh Place pier.

Under the government's plan, the pier must be demolished to make way for a road and shopping mall.