1 Wan Chai plan was `borrowed' think-tank says
Una So, 24 December 2007
A redevelopment think-tank has claimed that the Development Bureau and the Urban Renewal Authority "borrowed" its ideas in the newly announced Wan Chai redevelopment plan without proper accreditation.
The think-tank also claimed that while the government had switched direction with regard to saving the Wan Chai market, it was still bogged down by its obsession with property development.
The Wan Chai development blueprint working group was set up in 2005 with the support of the Wan Chai District Council, with help from the Baptist University geography faculty and St James's Settlement. It held numerous workshops, forums and conducted interviews with more than 2,000 Wan Chai residents over the past year to develop a plan that was acceptable.
However, on the eve of releasing the results of their study, they were beaten to the punch by the Development Bureau, which announced a new plan that retains the Wan Chai Market building, but constructs a residential tower over it.
In addition, the vacated Lee Tung Street - or Wedding Card Street - would become a "Wedding City" arcade.
Wan Chai District Council chairwoman Ada Wong Ying-kay said the bureau had "coincidentally" released its version of the development with one striking similarity - preserving the famed "Blue House," a Grade I historic building built in the 1920s, and allowing the 34 residents to continue living there alongside social enterprises that operate out of the premises.
The government's previous plans for the Blue House involved evicting the residents and turning it into a medical museum.
Tang Wing-shing, the associate geography professor from Baptist University who headed the commissioned study, said the government's latest idea was "borrowed" without any accreditation.
He said that while the group was glad to see progress in the government's thinking toward conservation, the new plan was merely "new wine in an aged bottle" with the government still clinging to the idea of conservation giving way to property development.
Wong said the plan was still development-led without serious consideration for community networks.
"Four years ago they asked the residents to vacate Lee Tung Street. They cannot expect all the operators to now want to move back," she said.
"The bureau announced the plan unilaterally and does not really have a coherent policy."
The development think-tank had proposed renovating Lee Tung Street's residential buildings into low rent co- op housing with more community open space, something the district desperately lacks.
The group also suggested retaining the market in its entirety as part of this community space.
The H15 Concern Group, formed by shop operators and residents of Lee Tung Street, had also drawn up an alternative redevelopment plan, but the URA repeatedly avoided discussing it with them.
A member of the group, Yip Mei- yung, has vowed to go on a hunger strike until the authority is willing to discuss the plan.
The government's latest plan will be discussed at the Town Planning Board on January 11.
2 MTR urged to speed up South Island line project
Una So, The Standard 24 December 2007
South island residents yesterday urged the speedy construction of the much delayed South Island line (East) and aired fears the lengthy discussion on an extra stop at the Happy Valley racecourse could slow progress.
Critics also voiced concerns at the possible unfair financial advantage the MTR Corporation (0066) could get by way of property development rights at two sites in Aberdeen.
At RTHK's City Forum yesterday, residents from Southern District called for the speedy construction of the railway to ease traffic congestion in Island South.
The HK$7 billion, seven-kilometer- long railway will run from Admiralty, via Ocean Park, Wong Chuk Hang and Lei Tung to South Horizons in Ap Lei Chau. Work is set to begin in 2011 with the line becoming operational in 2015.
Legco transport panel chairman Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said the 2015 deadline is a far cry from the scheduled date of 2008 when the South Island line was first mooted in the Railway Development Strategy report in 2000.
A proposed Happy Valley stop was scrapped as projections indicated a population of just 19,000 in the area. Instead, the Hong Kong Jockey Club proposed a stop at the racecourse.
However, Happy Valley residents pleaded for the stop to be reconsidered as the daily traffic jams during peak hours extended their journeys to nearby Wan Chai to around 50 minutes.
Southern district councillor Lam Kai-fai feared the debate over whether to build a stop at Happy Valley for residents or at the racecourse would further delay the project.
In reply, MTRC external affairs and government relations manager Maggie So Man-Kit said that, while the railway understood the needs of residents, the initial planning and design works would take at least three years.
Meanwhile, critics feared the land premium to be paid by the company to the government would be far less than what the site's value would be after the line was operational.
Cheng said the government should be careful in the funding of such projects, especially as the MTRC is a listed company. The government is expected to grant the MTRC property development rights to land in Wong Chuk Hang and Ocean Park, which is estimated at more than HK$30 billion.
The MTRC said that, after paying the land premium, the property sales profits would be split with developers and injected back into railway development.
