I'm living in Hong Kong at the moment. So today on the way to work i read in Hong Kong's free newspaper about this article. Where this company Hopewell Holdings has been trying for the past 5 years to get their project approved by the Town Planning Board. If you read the article at the bottom it states how it was rejected after traffic assessment by the Transport Department, got opposed by the resident's organization and the Town Planning Board because of it's height. So the company had to cut down to size. Nearly 40%. I have highlighted the interesting bits. This is what you call good governance. Not like how things are done in Malaysia. Example Jalan Segambut they built an apartment in an already congested 2 lane road called Mandy Villa. There are so many examples to name. You'll know what I'm talking about.
Today in MalaysiaToday there is some changes to happen in Malaysia. We are going to have a Public Land Transport Commission by March 2009. The article is at the bottom. Hope things do change in Malaysia.
Cut down to size by
Timothy Chui and Alfred Liu
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Hopewell Holdings is hoping to go ahead with its long-proposed Wan Chai Mega Tower - but it has been cut down to size.
The tower's height has been cut by a third and the capacity of a planned hotel reduced by half in its proposal. Along with the cuts comes a name change: it will now be called Hopewell Centre II.
Hopewell said it plans to spend at least HK$5 billion on the project, which along with office space and a 1,024-room hotel includes a public park. The company will also spend HK$400 million on a road improvement plan.
Work could begin next year if the plan is approved, Hopewell said, with the project completed by 2014 or 2015.
The cuts in the project, which was first proposed almost 30 years ago, follow more than six months of talks between Hopewell and the government. However, Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor denied the scale-back was due to government pressure.
"I am not the type of person that pressures people," Lam said. "Of course, all contractors hope to develop more but this time [Hopewell] has implemented social responsibility."
She added: "For many years, I have never seen a developer holding an approved project agreeing to such a large reduction."
Lam said because of the large cuts, the government is seeking legal advice to see if the new proposal is a class-A amendment - meaning it would not need to go before the Town Planning Board.
"The development will help rejuvenate a rather dilapidated area that has been lying i
dle for over 20, 30 years," Lam said.
Under the revised plan, the tower will be reduced from 93 stories to 55, a 40 percent drop, with the 210-meter height slightly lower than the adjacent 66-story Hopewell Centre's 222m.
The project's gross floor area will be reduced by 31 percent from Hopewell's 1994 proposal of 172,731 square meters with the plot ratio lowered from 15 to 10.3. Some 5,880 sq m of open public space will be retained. Hotel capacity will drop from 2,197 guestrooms.
The plan will be forwarded to Wan Chai District Council for approval next month, pending a review by the bureau and updated traffic analysis.
Hopewell co-managing director Thomas Wu Man-san said the project will create about 4,000 jobs with 500 initially, increasing to 1,900 at the peak of construction with another 1,100 jobs during the internal decoration stage.
There will be 900 permanent hotel jobs created and about 300 in shops.He said the company did not have to raise additional funds for the scheme. Wu also denied suggestions Hopewell had come under government pressure and said the cuts would not affect revenue.
Hopewell said 60 percent of the development area is owned by the company with the rest by the government.
However, there are still some concerns about the development.
Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan said a three-week public consultation period should be granted for the public to air its views on the changes.
Wan Chai resident Sara Yin Pai-sze, meanwhile, said the project is still 55 stories too high.
While Malaysia: In todays news.
We are far away behind atleast we have started. I think. With BN you can never say. Let's Hope Datuk S K Devamany walks the talk. I knew him before he ventured into politics seriously. That was a long time back. I was his student. He is a good man. Hope he makes some good changes in governing Malaysia.
Thursday, 20 November 2008 00:05
Datuk S K Devamany, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said that the SPAD (Public Land Transport Commission) is set to be established by March 2009 and the government is currently deciding on the issues like its objectives, organization structure, scope, manpower, implementation and others. He said “SPAD would be responsible for planning and determining the policy and direction, setting the transport rates, drawing up laws and rules, licensing and enforcing the public land transport system. It would include providing an explanation, holding discussions as well getting feedback from state governments, local councils and other interested parties,”
-Zen, MalaysiaToday
No comments:
Post a Comment