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1. Lantau plans `misleading'

2. Arts-hub bidder says it may reduce commercial plans

3. Shun Tak plans $4.5b hotel complex

1. Lantau plans `misleading'
Paris Lord, The Standard 13 December 2004

While environmental groups are celebrating the decision by property developers not to demolish the Hung Hom Peninsula, the struggle for Lantau Island continues.

The government should create a Lantau conservation strategy before finalising any development plans, a local environmental group said.

In a detailed reply to the gov-ernment's draft ``concept plan'' for the SAR's largest island, the Green Lantau Association said it doubts the government's commitment to ``balancing'' conservation and development.

The association - which opposed the ``super prison'' on reclaimed land off Hei Ling Chau - said one proposal by the Lantau Development Task Force was announced in 1999, while others have conditions attached.

Chaired by Financial Secretary Henry Tang, the task force has held secret meetings since February. Only government officials are members; no Lantau people are on board.

It is ``misleading'' to believe conservation is the primary concern of the concept plan, the association said.

``The proposals are clearly development-driven, and conservation is usually either a residual, or a vehicle to foster commercial tourism initiatives,'' it said. ``There are heartening ex-ceptions, such as proposals to extend an existing country park and create marine parks, but there are conditions attached [which] may never be realised.''

A conservation strategy will identify, for preservation or con-servation, all the island's natural and cultural heritage features. ``We expect much of the island will qualify,'' the association said. ``With this proposed, discussed and agreed within the community, development proposals can be `hung' to determine whether they can be achieved, while still attaining the agreed conservation objective. The current dev-elopment-driven concept puts the cart before the horse.''

The task force simply put some development ideas on paper, and deemed conservation plans ``subject to resource availability'', the association added.

The proposed Lantau North Country Park extension was a promise linked to the construction of the airport at Chek Lap Kok, and one the government never fulfilled. The designation of the extension was announced by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa at his 1999 policy address, with implementation for 2001, but nothing happened.

``It would appear that conservation promises which the administration has not honoured are now being recycled to be linked with yet more construction projects, and even then are subject to the same constraints which prevented them from being realised in the past, namely the availability of resources,'' the association said.

``This continuing procrastination and absence of any timetable for implementation casts grave doubts on the administration's sincerity.''

The association supports the proposed marine park at southwest Lantau, but urged it not be ``subject to resources'' because without commitment, the intention had no value.

According to the South West New Territories development strategy review released in 2001, the Soko Islands were to be a marine park, but this was omitted in the Lantau concept plan, the association said.

``It is regrettable, even cynical, to omit the immediate islands from the concept plan, and calls into question the administration's motives in so doing,'' it said.

2. Arts-hub bidder says it may reduce commercial plans
KRISTINE KWOK and GARY CHEUNG, SCMP 13 December 2004

A consortium vying for the West Kowloon cultural hub contract yesterday said it was willing to reduce the commercial and residential development it has planned for the site.

Sunny Development - a consortium headed by Sino Land, Wharf (Holdings) and Chinese Estate Holdings - said it wanted the public's opinions on the matter.
The consortium's proposal for the site includes the highest density of residential and commercial buildings of any bidder, more than twice the government's recommendation.

Sino Land executive director Yu Wai-wai said yesterday: "There is room for reduction [in the plot ratio] and we will listen to the views from the public."

There has been strong concern that the cultural hub could turn into another commercially driven property project. Sunny Development is proposing a plot ratio of 4.3, compared with the government's suggested 1.81.

The plot ratio is the ratio of commercial and residential floor space to the site's total area.

Dynamic Star International, a joint venture of Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Sun Hung Kai Properties, proposes a plot ratio of 3.28, while World City Cultural Park, a subsidiary of Henderson Land, proposes 2.5.

Mr Yu said they would have further discussions with the government on the project. His remarks came after Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung said on Friday that property developments on the 40-hectare site had to be kept to a low level.

But in a forum yesterday, the arts sector and activists said public opinion would not count at all in the assessment process.

Ada Wong Ying-kay, chairman of Wan Chai District Council, said the exterior and interior design and the financial arrangements would each account for a third of the 300-point assessment.

"The government has kept saying it will listen to the public, but our voice does not count for any points in the grading," she said.

But Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Shelly Lau Lee Lai-kuen said at the forum that public opinion would be crucial. She declined, however, to comment on what the government would do if a majority of the public demanded the scrapping of the giant canopy over the site, the key feature of the design by Lord Foster which forms the basis of the project.

A public consultation on the project will start on Thursday, with an exhibition starting on Saturday.

A senior official said the giant canopy, planned to be the world's largest roof, would cost between $2.5 billion and $4 billion.

The government has come under fire for its insistence on building the giant canopy over the cultural district.

Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen had earlier said the glass canopy was one of the main reasons the government had decided to entrust the project to a single developer.

Lord Foster believed such a design would reduce the temperature of the sheltered area, according to Kwan Pak-lam of the Civil Engineering and Development Department.

3. Shun Tak plans $4.5b hotel complex
SANDY LI, SCMP 13 December 2004

Shun Tak Holdings plans to spend $4.5 billion to develop Macau's first large-scale residential, hotel, office and retail complex on its recently acquired waterfront site.

Shun Tak deputy managing director Daisy Ho Chiu-fung told the South China Morning Post that the investment included the $1.5 billion acquisition cost of the site, next to the Macau Tower in Nam Van district, from chairman Stanley Ho Hung-sun last month.

The project will comprise 800 luxury apartments, a four to five-star 500-room hotel with a casino, a grade-A office complex and a shopping centre.

"It will be the first such large-scale comprehensive development in Macau," Ms Ho said.

In a bid to capitalise on a projected tourism boom, the hotel will be the first to get off the ground and is slated for completion by 2007. The whole development will be finished by 2009.

"The hotel will target business travellers, as it is located next to the Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre," Ms Ho said.

About 70 per cent of exhibitions in Macau were hosted at the exhibition facility, which had also become a prime venue for public events, she said.

Two weeks ago, Shun Tak agreed to lease 20,000 square metres in the hotel project to Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM), which will operate a casino with 180 tables.

SJM, majority owned by Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau, is one of the three companies granted a concession by the Macau government to operate casinos in Macau.

"Having a casino will help shorten the hotel's pay-back period," Ms Ho said.

CLSA analyst Keith Yeung estimated the full-year contribution from the 20,000 sqm lease to SJM would be as high as $840 million, based on net income of $14 million per table per year.

According to the leasing agreement, Shun Tak would charge SJM 40 per cent of the net earnings for each of the first 60 gambling tables, and 30 per cent for the remaining 120 tables.

Mr Yeung estimated Shun Tak's resultant cash flow at $5.55 billion, or $2.40 per share, lifting the net asset value to about $11.30 per share.

Meanwhile, Shun Tak submitted a plan to build an 815,600 sq ft residential addition to its 34.9 per cent owned Westin Resort.

If approved by the Macau government, the company will build 15 houses, six mansions, 15 villas and a residential block.

As of June 30, Shun Tak had a net cash surplus of $1.9 billion and $4 billion in untapped credit. Its Macau land holdings are about eight million sqft.

"Macau will have a major facelift three years from now as major developments are slated for completion by then. You will notice a new building topping out in every three months in Macau," Ms Ho said.

She expressed confidence in prospects for the Macau property market despite concerns of a property bubble.

Home prices in Macau have increased 30 per cent this year after an eight-year market slump and many buildings purchased by speculators are lying vacant.

Transaction volumes and prices started rocketing at the start of this year after the government liberalised the gaming industry.

Ms Ho believed residential prices would grow at least 20 per cent over the next 12 months.

Mass residential prices now range between $800 and $1,100 per square foot. Luxury residential prices could reach $2,000 per square foot or more, Ms Ho said.

"Although Macau is tiny compared with Hong Kong, the increasing number of professionals and workers arriving from Hong Kong, the mainland and western countries will create housing demand," she said.