HONG KONG | Projects & Construction

[hkskyline]

CL calls on construction sector to continue improving safety at work
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Government Press Release

The Commissioner for Labour, Mr Cheuk Wing Hing, appealed to stakeholders of the construction sector to continue adopting a zero-tolerance attitude by raising safety levels at work.

Speaking at the 12th Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme award presentation ceremony today (March 13), Mr Cheuk said the Labour Department has always co-operated with the construction sector and related bodies such as unions, government departments and public organisations, to adopt various measures to enhance the industry's occupational safety performance. The accident toll of the construction industry plunged 80.4% from 14,078 in 1999 to 2,755 in 2009, while the accident rate per thousand workers also dropped 72.5% from 198.4 to 54.6 in the same period.

"The construction industry is still a high-risk industry. Its accident toll is relatively high compared to other industrial sectors, with fatal cases topping all sectors. In 2009, among recorded industrial accidents, 20.3% happened on construction sites and fatal accidents in the construction industry accounted for 90.5% of overall industrial fatal accidents," Mr Cheuk said.

"Following the commencement of the ten major infrastructure projects, the number of large construction sites will increase and the demand for construction workers will grow rapidly. Labour shortage in the construction industry will inevitably accentuate and work safety may be neglected in order to speed up the work progress. Moreover, as fewer young people are joining the industry, the average age of construction workers will increase and the decline in physical strength of the workforce will likely become a factor pushing up the number of industrial accidents," he added.

He said the fact that the Government is providing more resources to carry out maintenance work to old buildings, such as through Operation Building Bright, and consequently mandatory building and window inspection schemes, renovation and maintenance works will increase, posing severe occupational safety performance challenges for the construction industry.

This year marks the 12th anniversary of the Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme, which aims to raise the occupational safety and health awareness of contractors, site personnel and workers of the construction industry, as well as to honour, through an open competition, participants with good occupational safety and health performances.

The Construction Industry Safety Award Scheme is co-organised by the Labour Department, the Occupational Safety and Health Council, the Development Bureau, the Hong Kong Housing Authority, the Construction Industry Council, the Occupational Deafness Compensation Board, the Hong Kong Housing Society, the Hong Kong Construction Association, the Hong Kong General Building Contractors Association, the Hong Kong Construction Sub-contractors Association, the Hong Kong Federation of Electrical and Mechanical Contractors Limited, The Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies and the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union.

The Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Council, Mr Lee Kai-ming and representatives of the co-organisers also officiated at the award presentation ceremony today.

The award scheme's site safety competition recorded an entry of 150 sites, 52 sub-contractors and 100 safety teams this year.

[hkskyline]

HK Government: To Sell 3 Residential Sites In Hung Hom In Kowloon
16 March 2011

HONG KONG (Dow Jones)--The Hong Kong government said Wednesday it plans to sell three residential sites in Hung Hom on the Kowloon Peninsula, as part of its pledge to boost private housing supply amid a booming property market.

The government said it will sell the largest of the three sites in an auction on April 27. The site will have a maximum gross floor area of 14,262 square metres.

The two smaller sites have maximum gross floor areas of 5,240.7 and 9,740 square meters, respectively, and will be sold via tender that opens in April. The saleable area per completed apartment at the smaller sites will be restricted to between 35 and 40 square meters, according to the government.

[hkskyline]

Opinion : Collusive land policy a harmful way to finance our economy
18 March 2011
South China Morning Post

Henry Cheng Kar-shun, the managing director of New World Development, is extremely well placed to comment that property prices are high and still rising, and that there is a growing anti-business sentiment due to the wealth gap.

His perspective that a fairer distribution of wealth is necessary is absolutely correct. However, his proposal to address these issues with a small rise in the company profits tax is not appropriate to the present situation ("Raise profits tax to help poor, tycoon says", March 8).

It is not lack of funds that is preventing a solution to Hong Kong's growing social problems but rather our senior officials' lack of confidence in being able to develop any policy that has a longer time horizon than 12 months. The knee-jerk ad hoc budget measures proposed by Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah reveal an insecurity and incompetence in the collection, allocation and management of public resources. I have lost confidence in the government's ability to govern.

The method of auctioning land allows developers to exaggerate the business cycle and thereby create property speculation and market bubbles and abnormal company profits (as Mr Cheng acknowledged).

In a market economy, boom and bust cannot be prevented, but the government should aim to ameliorate business cycle excesses (rather than fuel them).

It is fundamental that all land property in Hong Kong is leasehold and that this should allow our government a stable recurrent income by way of an expedient land rent.

Developers should concentrate on the business of supplying buildings, not on land speculation.

The present land policy is a collusion whereby the major tycoons get into the driving seat on land development, and government gets massive lump sums to place into the capital works account. This is not a prudent way to finance our economy.

Roger Emmerton, Wan Chai

[hkskyline]

HK$120m green cash from niche developer
9 March 2011
South China Morning Post

A developer will inject up to HK$120 million into a government-run environment fund to support the preservation of the dragonfly haven in Sha Lo Tung valley.

The aim is to build a massive columbarium with capacity for 60,000 urn niches, along with a nature reserve and an education centre.

The money will be added to the Environment and Conservation Fund if the plan is approved.

The niches will be housed in five structures to be built on 5.5 hectares of land deemed not to be environmentally sensitive on the edge of the Sha Lo Tung valley.

They will be sold to the public by the developer, the Sha Lo Tung Development Company.

The proceeds from selling the niches could run to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Work could be completed as early as 2016, provided issues such as land lease modifications are completed. The landowner has also come to an agreement with local villagers that no small houses will be built in the area.

"The HK$120 million funding will be provided before the start of construction and will be injected into the government fund, instead of setting up a private trust," a spokesman for the company said.

A person familiar with the situation said the proposed financial arrangement via a government fund would set a precedent for similar projects in the future, though it might be less flexible than a private trust in terms of administration.

A separate and unknown sum would be set aside for maintenance of an access road to the area.

The injection to the fund is expected to generate HK$4 million to HK$5 million a year in interest to cover the cost of running the 52-hectare reserve.

A management agent, probably the NGO Green Power, will be chosen to run the facilities.

The company, which has bought up 96 per cent of private land lots at the site from local villagers, failed to win permission for a more ambitious development, first mooted in the 1980s, that included a golf course and low-rise villas. In 2005 it changed tack and decided to collaborate with Green Power in a government-backed public-private partnership initiative to protect privately owned sites of high ecological value.

The government ranked Sha Lo Tung second of 12 priority ecological sites in terms of species and habitat diversity after the Mai Po nature reserve, a sanctuary for migratory birds.

The Sha Lo Tung development is expected to have an acceptable environmental impact on the sensitive site, home to at least 70 of the 116 dragonfly species found locally. The Sha Lo Tung stream is also a site of scientific interest where the endemic Hong Kong paradise fish is found.

The developer will restrict transport to the columbarium during festival periods and prohibit the burning of incense at the site to prevent hill fires.

The environmental impact assessment for the project is available for public comment on the Environmental Protection Department website until April 4.

[hkskyline]

Opinion : Time for some serious soul-searching on Hong Kong's future
20 March 2011
South China Morning Post

With the government under fire for piecemeal solutions and lack of vision, it is time for Hongkongers to debate the balance between what we expect the community as a whole to pay for and what we expect to pay for individually.

Education and the overstretched health service appear to be good candidates for more community cash, given the amount of research that has gone into them over the years.

But the last time the government intervened in the housing market - by promising more supply in 1997 - it worsened the subsequent crash. Yet the low prices which followed did not help the less well-off to buy since the collapse took the rest of the economy with it.

We need to ask why it is that throughout the past 40 years - during which Hong Kong's population has almost doubled - an extraordinarily high 50 per cent of households have been unable to afford either decent rented accommodation or home ownership and have had to rely on government-subsidised housing.

Is it because they are not paid enough or because private housing is too expensive? Perhaps both, but poor people's chief problem is not having enough money.

Solutions such as the travel allowance are just another hidden subsidy to employers. I surprise myself by agreeing with "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, who is right in, reportedly, saying that it would not be necessary if workers were paid HK$33 per hour.

Now that people are no longer squatting on hillsides, there is also a case for saying that more public housing simply begets a need for more public housing, as wages adjust.

The policy inertia of recent years has seen the super rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

The former have enough influence to get all the measures and subsequent rewards they want but, as you reported ("Boom time for bar benders {hellip} and those who speculate in them", March 9), the number of people earning HK$3,500 a month or less has risen from 1.186 million in 2001 to 1.26 million in the first half of last year.

Is this what we want? Low pay and handouts from government and/or foundations built by tycoons on the money we have paid them, often by way of monopolies?

It is the way we are going.

Jo McBride, Pok Fu Lam

[hkskyline]

Flat buyers get legal aid under revised scheme
The Standard
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

New homebuyers will be able to apply for legal aid to claim against property developers under a revised scheme.

If the Legislative Council approves the HK$100 million injection to the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme, it may be implemented before the end of the year.

Currently the self-financing fund has HK$88.26 million.

Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Raymond Young Lap-moon said the revised scheme aims to provide more protection for flat owners against unfair and unscrupulous developers.

"For many first-hand flat buyers, they will have to face litigation against a large and financially sound corporation. It's a matter of social justice to expand the scope to help these buyers under the legal aid scheme," Yeung said.

He declined to comment on whether the proposal is linked to the recent controversy surrounding The Icon.

The developer of the Mid-Levels project was accused of selling HK$10 million flats whose quality did not match the descriptions in sales brochures.

The developer, Winfoong International, which authorized Centaline Property Agency to sell the flats, later offered a buyback deal.

Under the revised scheme, claims may be made against developers and professional service providers including estate agents, architects and surveyors in addition to the existing categories of dentists, lawyers and doctors.

Employees pursuing appeals on labor tribunal decisions and negligence claims from sales of insurance products will also be included.

However, minority owners involved in compulsory sales of buildings in conflict with developers or major owners are not covered.

The Home Affairs Bureau said some of the minority owners are speculators and it would be against community good to help them. Besides, land tribunal cases are generally not covered by legal aid.

The application fees for the new cases will be increased from HK$1,000 to HK$5,000, on the grounds they still fail to cover the average administration cost of HK$7,850 per case.

The interim contribution rate is also increased from HK$43,950 to HK$65,000, or 10 percent of the assessed financial resources of the person applying.

[hkskyline]

U-turn on floor area rule for developers
Buyers must be told 'price' of green spaces
23 March 2011
South China Morning Post

Developers must continue to reveal to buyers how much living space in a building has been offset by adding balconies, sky gardens and other "environment-friendly" features after a government U-turn.

The requirement had disappeared when the Buildings Department issued a new set of guidelines last month.

There was an outcry from environmental groups, but officials said that the need for such disclosures would be dealt with by a steering committee under the Transport and Housing Bureau which is reviewing practices governing the sales of flats.

The committee's review is not expected to be completed until the end of this year.

However, in a surprise turnaround yesterday, the Development Bureau said in a paper submitted for discussion by legislators that the requirement to reveal "gross floor area concessions" would be kept in the new guidelines as an interim measure.

Asked if developers would be forced to disclose further information, for example, by breaking down the square footage of common facilities apportioned to an individual flat's living space, a bureau spokesman said no new measures were proposed at this stage.

Green Sense president Roy Tam Hoi-pong welcomed the government's change of heart.

However, he questioned whether developers would comply with another guideline which requires they get certificates from the Hong Kong Green Building Council to show a development's environmental efficiency.

"Some developers could escape from the assessment if they are not required to submit the assessment results when they submit building plans to the department," he said.

But a Buildings Department spokesman insisted that developers would be forced to submit an interim assessment result before starting the construction.

From next month, the amount of gross floor area of living space that can be offset by lobbies, clubhouses and balconies will be capped at 10 per cent.

Until then, developers escape paying government land premiums for most of these facilities but can charge flat buyers for them. As a result, the so-called environmental features had become excessive, accounting for more than 20 per cent of gross floor area in some cases.

A Buildings Department spokesman said there had been an 80 per cent increase in building plans submitted to the department over the past few months as developers rushed to avoid the 10 per cent limit.

[hkskyline]

HK needs clear strategy to expand commercial space
23 March 2011
SCMP



Recent reports about Hong Kong's commercial property sector have focused on escalating rents and decreasing affordability relative to other financial centres in the region and internationally.

The message of the reports is clear: unless Hong Kong follows a clear path towards a more sustainable landscape for new commercial accommodation, its dubious distinction as the world's most expensive real estate market will risk driving away businesses.

Last year, office rentals across the city rose by an average of 28.5 per cent, and the city is now the most expensive office market in the world for multinational corporations.

Is our office space really worth considerably more than space in other financial hubs? Or have users merely accepted the high cost as part of doing business in one of the world's most compact cities?

Given the limitation in supply of expandable sites in core districts, the time is right for occupiers to change their mindset to break location-centric taboos and consider places outside Central for front-office accommodation. Aside from a few future development sites identified by the public sector within traditional business districts such as Central, and expectations that these will be made available to the market, the district is close to saturation.

With further reclamation of the harbour unlikely, the CBD, at 23 million square feet, is destined to remain compact, and tiny compared to the City and West End in London, at 130 million sq ft, and Lower and Mid Manhattan, at 240 million sq ft.

To create room to capture current and future growth cycles, Hong Kong needs a long-term strategy to expand its business district, rather than the short-term approach of simply adding a few more buildings in established, congested areas.

The rapidly expanding services sector in Central continues to contribute to price tensions, but the accountancy profession seems to be rethinking traditional attitudes as to which industries "need" to be where, with many of its big players relocating a high proportion of their portfolios, including front-office operations, out of Central.

We expect this trend to develop. It will be supported by a significant proportion of Hong Kong Island's 50 million sqft of grade A space (another 27 million sqft outside Central) becoming ripe for redevelopment or refurbishment, which will bring the possibility of enlarging the core business district, with Kowloon East a continually expanding non-core hub.

Space is precious in Hong Kong. However, this compact city is served by a transport network that enables executives to squeeze in many more appointments in different locations each day than is possible in almost any other big international city across almost all commercial districts.

The success stories of the Causeway Bay and Island East commercial areas best demonstrate this unique advantage, where the amenities and connectivity exist akin to those in the Central CBD.

The city's best route towards sustained commercial property development to meet the needs of the growing corporate community may be to acknowledge the process of transition that is under way. Rather than encourage relocation in the region, acknowledgement of a city in its next phase of development may help change occupiers' perceptions of availability and cost, based on current levels of demand.

This will encourage developers to invest in helping to expand the Central CBD east and west on Hong Kong Island, while consolidating Kowloon East's strengthening non-core hub credentials.

Owing to Hong Kong's history as a manufacturing base, huge potential exists for developers to turn the many privately held industrial sites, especially in Kowloon East, into grade A office accommodation.

In the latest budget, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced that two public sector sites in Kowloon East would be sold through government-initiated auctions, and the Kai Tak area would be developed partly into another premier office node to be served by the Sha Tin-Central rail link and other new road infrastructure.

All this will boost the growing acceptance of Kowloon East as a commercial cluster, and will open up a wealth of opportunities for developers who invest in turning this part of the city into the next prime commercial location.

In tandem with this, the redevelopment of new grade A office accommodation on brownfield sites in locations such as Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Island East could help accelerate the establishment of these other districts on Hong Kong Island as core locations; the West Kowloon area linking Tsim Sha Tsui and the International Commercial Centre could also supplement this in the future, relieving the pressure on Central to accommodate pent-up demand from existing tenants seeking expansion.

There is a range of pressure from all sides on Hong Kong in its bid to retain its position as "Asia's world city", one of which is to provide adequate office accommodation. What comes with this is the need to keep costs at a more acceptable level to support the expansion of businesses seeking to be based here.

The current direction for the distribution and availability of future grade A commercial space is pointing the city in this direction and tasking the occupier community to participate in driving this change, while challenging the developer community in unofficial partnership with the government to make these changes happen.

Gavin Morgan is the deputy managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle Hong Kong

[Rachmaninov]

One thing they really shouldn't do is to apply a FLAT rule that buildings shouldn't be taller than the hills behind. I agree that some of the hills must never be obscured, e.g. Lion Rock, The Peak, etc. but I'm sure the rule could be relaxed in Taikoo without really ruining much. Stubbornly following this rule only restricts the heights and hence GFA and price/rent of the office buildings...

[hkskyline]

Well, developers will then question why can't their plot be the tallest. Once the height limits are lifted, everyone will redevelop to the highest they can get. Combining all these developments together will likely be a very bad wall effect.

[Rachmaninov]

That's why we need a stronger government. We're wasting a lot of potential office space and people ask why property prices are so high.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by Rachmaninov

That's why we need a stronger government. We're wasting a lot of potential office space and people ask why property prices are so high.

Actually, commercial prices are only starting to catch up to the astronomical residential property prices.

[EricIsHim]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

Actually, commercial prices are only starting to catch up to the astronomical residential property prices.

But the article did state "office rentals across the city rose by an average of 28.5 per cent [last year]," that's a significant amount as well.
How much did the residential side rise on average?

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by EricIsHim

But the article did state "office rentals across the city rose by an average of 28.5 per cent [last year]," that's a significant amount as well.
How much did the residential side rise on average?

But commercial prices started jumping later in the year, while residential prices have risen throughout the year.

Here's a gauge : http://www.midland.com.hk/chi/midland_trend/

[EricIsHim]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

But commercial prices started jumping later in the year, while residential prices have risen throughout the year.

Here's a gauge : http://www.midland.com.hk/chi/midland_trend/

Nice, never realized Midland has such graphic.

[Rachmaninov]

Regardless when it started to rise, a height limit does limit the supply and does have an effect on rental price. The residential bit is already bad enough. The last thing we want is for office space to get even more expensive!

[hkskyline]

More 'green' offices as demand grows
23 March 2011
SCMP

Rising demand from tenants seeking "green" office buildings will prompt developers to build more smart commercial buildings in Asia equipped with environmentally friendly features, says a global association for corporate real estate professionals.

"A lot more companies are looking for green space, and Asia is growing, with more multinational corporations coming here," said Michael Zamora, CoreNet Global board member and vice-president of communications in Asia.

About 50 per cent of companies were willing to pay more for a "greener" or more environmentally friendly office, according to a recent survey by property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle and CoreNet.

CoreNet has about 7,000 members from the real estate sector worldwide.

Of the 143 industry executives interviewed around the world in the annual survey at the end of last year, 48 per cent said they were willing to pay up to a 10 per cent premium for sustainable office space. And 2 per cent said they would even pay 10 per cent more.

Zamora, who is also an architect and real estate broker based in Hong Kong, explained that companies, particularly multinational corporations, sought offices in green buildings because they were more aware of their corporate social responsibility and image.

And smart buildings helped them significantly cut power expenses.

"Depending on where you are talking about in the world, probably about 30 to 35 per cent of the operating expenses of a building is electricity ... for air-conditioning to keep us cool, or machines to keep us warm, and run our equipment," said Zamora, citing the new Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou's Tianhe district as an example.

The development, which is billed as an iconic smart building equipped with energy-saving features such as wind turbines, solar collectors and raised-floor ventilation, consumes 20 to 40 per cent less power than ordinary buildings, he said.

Such buildings are also lucrative for developers, even though they cost more to build, because the green features are in demand and fetch higher rents.

Zamora said Asia was gradually catching up with the Western trend towards more intelligent buildings as the region develops and its newest constructions meet increasingly higher, or even the highest, standards.

According to recent research by CB Richard Ellis, Asia accounted for around 35 per cent of the 110 million square foot of office space completed in 2001.

But in the last decade, Asia's percentage share has grown to 75 per cent of the estimated 110 million sq ft of completed space this year.

Zamora said in Australia, the New South Wales government would only rent space in buildings with a certain level of green ratings.

In Hong Kong, demand is also growing for green office space, especially from multinational companies, he said, citing the International Finance Centre in Central and the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon as examples.

He also noted that in South Korea, the government has announced plans to develop Songdu City in Incheon into a green city with at least 50 per cent of the buildings to meet the international standard for green buildings.

CoreNet is holding a three-day summit in Hong Kong until tomorrow to discuss topics such as smart buildings.

[hkskyline]

Radicals offer land-swap solution
The Standard
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

"Mad Dog" Raymond Wong Yuk-man and his People Power colleague Albert Chan Wai-yip say besides exercising power to destroy, they have a constructive side, and are prepared to suggest solutions to social problems.

Speaking on the escalating dispute between Mei Foo Sun Chuen flat owners and a developer on a plan to construct a 20-story block in the area, the lawmakers proposed the government follow its success in the King Yin Lei case, where a land-swap approach saved a historic mansion.

The lawmakers - who broke away from the League of Social Democrats in January - said they will set up several committees in their group to provide constructive views to other social problems, to dispel the "destructive power" name tag they have been given. Chan said a land swap could change a "three-loss" situation between the government, the developer and residents to a "three-win" situation.

"Dissatisfaction over the monopoly enjoyed by property developers is aggravating society and many people are angry," Chan said.

"Yet the King Yin Lei precedent shows a land swap is possible, and the government should make good use of it."

People Power said the government can swap land with developers, using sites on the land application list that nearby residents already know have been earmarked for high-density development.

[hkskyline]

Developers queue for green tests that boost floor area
2 April 2011
South China Morning Post

Developers hungry for extra floor area for their projects via government concessions are queuing for environmental assessments of their buildings that are required under a revised policy that took effect yesterday.

Thirty new developments, including some big names, are already registered for a certificate from the Green Building Council.

Apart from government departments, which are expected to take a leading role, Swire Properties, Sino Land, Nan Fung, the MTR Corporation and the English Schools Foundation are on the list.

Under the revised policy - limiting the amount of extra floor area a developer can obtain for adding green and amenity facilities - a green building assessment is required before plans are submitted to the Buildings Department. The assessment results will be published in sales brochures to inform flat buyers of how much energy the design will save.

Among the 23 projects which have completed the registration and were disclosed by the Green Building Council yesterday, three are government projects - the cruise terminal building in Kai Tak, the redevelopment of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority headquarters, and quarters for the Customs and Excise Department.

Almost half of the disclosed projects are residential. They include the Housing Society's pioneering project in Tsing Yi, which allows people to rent a flat first and buy it later.

Also on the list is the 1,200-flat MTR project at Austin Station, Swire's two 50-storey towers in Seymour Road, Mid Levels; and a renewal project in Tai Kok Tsui codeveloped by Sino Land and the Urban Renewal Authority.

The assessment is also being sought by educational institutes including the English Schools Foundation, which plans to redevelop its King George V and Kowloon Junior schools. Baptist University and the University of Science and Technology are in line for their joint hostel project in Tseung Kwan O.

Only two commercial blocks - in Kwun Tong and Wong Chuk Hang - had registered by yesterday.

The council spokeswoman would not give details of the seven projects still to complete registration.

The assessment, undertaken by assessors trained by the council, looks at various aspects of a development including energy use, site ventilation, indoor air quality, water consumption and waste management.

But developers do not need to pass the assessment in order to obtain extra floor area - they are only required to complete the assessment and disclose the results.

"This should be the first step. It encourages developers to achieve better environmental standards through market competition," council board director Wong Kam-sing said, adding that a pass or minimum standard may be required later.

[hkskyline]

Residential Development near Phase 8 of Mei Foo Sun Chuen complies with Statutory Requirements and Lease Conditions
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Government Press Release







In response to some local residents' concern over a residential development near Phase 8 of Mei Foo Sun Chuen, a spokesman for the Development Bureau confirmed today (April 3) that the project meets relevant statutory requirements and complies with the use permissible under the land lease. There is no case for the Government to interfere with a lawful private project.

"The residential development concerned (the development) is located at Lots NKML 25 R.P. and NKML 25 S.B (the site). According to the lease conditions, the site can be used for non-industrial uses which include residential use. The site falls within the Lai Chi Kok Outline Zoning Plan and has been zoned 'Residential (Group A)' since 1985 under the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131). The Building Authority (BA) has approved the general building plans and commencement of foundation works for the development in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123) (BO)", the spokesman said.

According to the latest approved building plans, one single block of 20-storey building will be built at the site and its height will be similar to that of the buildings of Phase 8 of Mei Foo Sun Chuen next to the site.

"There have been suggestions that the Government should consider executing a non-in-situ land exchange with the owner of the site so as to stop the development. We have to emphasise that non-in-situ land exchanges are considered by the Executive Council only under very special circumstances with full policy justifications where an overall public interest is at stake, for example, to protect and preserve a historic building under Hong Kong's heritage conservation policy.

In this case, the development complies with the planning and building legislation and residential use is permissible under the land lease. There are no policy considerations or special circumstances which warrant the Government's interference with private property rights. Any suggested non-in-situ land exchange with the owner to stop the development simply to address some local resistance cannot be justified", the spokesman added.

The residents' concern about the development has been the subject of discussion at the Sham Shui Po District Council and the Legislative Council. Specifically, Members of the Legislative Council met with the Administration in case conferences on the subject held in 2004, 2009 and 2010 (twice in 2010). Between 2009 and 2011, representatives of the Administration also attended meetings of the working group established under the Sham Shui Po District Council on the subject, and met with the residents of Phase 8 of Mei Foo Sun Chuen. During those extensive discussions, relevant departments had explained the situation and clarified misunderstandings. For example, in response to an allegation that the project was taking up the so-called "residual plot ratio" of the Mei Foo Sun Chuen Phase 8 site, the Administration explained that there could be no question of this as the project site is a separate site with its own development parameters.

"We fully appreciate growing public aspirations for a better living environment in recent years and the Government has taken various steps, both policy changes and review of government schemes, to respond positively to those aspirations. However, respect for private property rights and upholding the rule of law must not be compromised," the spokesman said.

A background note on the development is attached : http://gia.info.gov.hk/general/20110...0186_77336.pdf

Map : http://gia.info.gov.hk/general/20110...0186_77337.pdf