West Kowloon Reclamation Concept Plan Competition

Introductory Remarks by John C Tsang, JP,
Secretary for Planning and Lands,
at a Press Conference held at 3.45 pm on 28 February 2002
at the Central Government Offices, Hong Kong
to announce the winning entries to the Competition

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for attending this press conference. First of all, I would like to welcome all of you, including our overseas viewers who are watching our webcast around the world.

The purpose of the press conference is to announce the winners of the West Kowloon Reclamation Concept Plan Competition.

The aim of the Competition is to identify innovative concepts for the development of an arts, cultural and entertainment district in Hong Kong that is of outstanding architectural merit and has the facilities to place us firmly on the international cultural map. We are looking for an urban miracle. We intend to turn this piece of land reclaimed from our precious harbour in West Kowloon into a cultural oasis that will enrich the lives of our citizens, attract visitors from neighbouring cities and enhance even further one of the most beautiful skylines in the world with distinguished landmark built forms.

Sitting with me is Lord Rothschild, the Chairman of the Jury for the competition. The other jurors, nine in all, and the Professional Advisor to the competition, are seated in the front row. They are, coming from overseas, Professor Peter Droege, Mr Peter Rogers, Professor Peter Rowe, and Professor WU Liangyong. The jurors from Hong Kong are Mr Nicholas Brooke, Professor CHANG Hsin-kang, the Honourable Mrs Selina Chow, Professor Patrick Lau and the Honourable LEUNG Chun-ying. The Professional Advisor is Mr Bill Lacy. You will have an opportunity to talk to them later. Our Honorary Special Advisor, Mr I M Pei, is not able to join us today.

Let me now outline what we are going to do in the next hour or so. In a moment, I will hand over to Lord Rothschild, who will talk first about the competition, the entries, the work of the Jury and the prizes to be awarded. He will then announce the winning entries, beginning with the three entries awarded honourable mentions. He will elaborate on the reasons for the Jury's decisions. He will repeat this process with the second prize winner and, finally, with the first prize winner. He may ask members of his jury to take part in the deliberations.

The floor will then be open for you to ask questions. Depending upon the question, Lord Rothschild may again invite other members of the Jury, or myself, to contribute to the answers.

The press conference will end at 4.30 pm. A little more time will then be made available for you to interview individually members of the Jury and the senior officials present. That follow-up session will have to end promptly before 5.00 pm.

I think, like me, you are all interested to find out who the winners are.

So without any further ado, I would now like to invite Lord Rothschild to address you. Lord Rothschild.