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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 23):
Question:
I have learnt that the Hospital Authority plans to demolish the Nursing Quarter - Block A in Queen Mary Hospital this year for the construction of an integrated centre to provide acute trauma and cardiac care. Quite a number of staff from the hospital and conservationists consider that the 70-year-old building should be preserved. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it has fully assessed the historic and conservation value of the building; if it has, of the results; and
(b) given that the Chief Executive indicated in last year's Policy Address that the Government "will require all public works projects involving historic and built heritage to undergo heritage impact assessment so that the conservation of historic sites and buildings will be given due consideration in the project planning stage", how this measure is being implemented by the Government in the above project, so that the building can be preserved?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Queen Mary Hospital (QMH) is a regional acute general hospital in the Hong Kong West (HKW) Hospital Cluster as well as a teaching hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong. To meet the service needs and to cater for its long-term development, in 2007 the QMH made a proposal for the construction of an accident and emergency, trauma and cardiac care centre with a view to improving the existing facilities and enhancing its services. The proposed project mainly involves the demolition of the Hospital's Nursing Quarter - Block A to make way for the construction of a complex for accident and emergency, trauma and cardiac care services. Upon completion, the new complex will be provided with comprehensive state-of-the-art facilities. It is expected that services of the accident and emergency, trauma, cardiac and cardiovascular care in the HKW Cluster can be expanded and enhanced so as to meet the overall strong demand of the public for specialised tertiary services in Hong Kong.
(a) The Nursing Quarter - Block A of the QMH is not a graded historic building at the moment. The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) is planning to conduct an assessment on the heritage value of the subject site and has required the relevant works department to carry out a Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) at the planning stage of the works.
(b) In the 2007-08 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced a package of initiatives on heritage conservation. Since then, the Government has further developed the implementation arrangements, including the mechanism for carrying out HIAs on works projects. Under the relevant arrangements, the works department responsible for a capital works project is required to consider whether the project will affect sites or buildings of historic and archaeological significance (hereinafter referred to as "heritage sites") and consult the AMO on its findings. If the project will affect heritage sites, the AMO will require the relevant department to carry out a HIA. If some impact on the heritage sites can really not be avoided, the works department must devise mitigation measures to the satisfaction of the AMO. Any submission to the Public Works Subcommittee (PWSC) and Finance Committee for funding to carry out construction works must include a paragraph in the PWSC paper stating clearly whether the project will affect any heritage site and if it does, their implications, the mitigation measures to be taken, and whether the public is in support of the project.
Following the above mechanism, we will carry out a HIA and then review and consider the feasibility of the works project.
Ends/Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:56
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