Tuesday, August 2, 2005

Activists step up harbour site fight, and win new allies
- Chloe Lai

Activists have taken another step in their efforts to stop a forest of skyscrapers sprouting on the North Point waterfront, and won the support of a leading pro-government legislator.

Choy So-yuk, chairman of the Legislative Council's environmental affairs panel, said she would organise a petition in North Point to support calls for rezoning.

The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong member was speaking two days after pressure group Designing Hong Kong Harbour District submitted a proposal to the Town Planning Board to rezone the site of the Government Supplies Depot.

It wants the board to turn part of the site into open space to ensure public access to the waterfront, limit the scale of development by reducing the site's plot ratio from 10.5 to six and impose a height limit on building.

Eastern District Council has swung its support behind the campaign. The council wrote to the government on Thursday, urging it to impose height restrictions on the site, for which bids are now being invited from developers.

The council expressed concern about the possibility that rows of tall buildings would create a wall effect blocking views of the sea and the Kowloon ridge line.

Ms Choy said: "The existing planning brief is totally unacceptable. North Point is already too crowded and lacks open space. We cannot afford to have public access to the waterfront blocked."

Harbour activists first approached the government in March, urging it to scrap plans to auction the site until the brief for its development could be brought up to date with harbour planning principles and urban design guidelines issued in 2002.

But housing chiefs say the guidelines only apply to new sites coming on to the market.

And the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau says it is "not appropriate" to withdraw a site from bidding.

The convenor of the Citizen Envisioning@Harbour group, Albert Lai Kwong-tak, believed developers would welcome the rezoning request, as it would clear up uncertainty over the site's development potential.

He questioned the sincerity of the government's promise to return the harbour to the public.

"There is no more reclamation, so we need to take great care of the last remaining land around the harbour," Mr Lai said.