Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Email this article news.gov.hk
Government's response to media enquiries on West Kowloon Reclamation Concept Plan Competition
*********************************************************

     In response to media enquiries on the West Kowloon Reclamation Concept Plan Competition, the Government spokesman gave the following reply today (February 8):

     "Mr CY Leung was invited to be a member of the Jury for the West Kowloon Reclamation Concept Plan Competition (the Competition) in March 2001.  In September 2001, the then Competition Team received 161 concept plan proposals (entries), which were dispatched to members of the Jury in an anonymous manner in January 2002.

     To ensure the fairness of the adjudication process, members of the Jury were requested to make declarations of interest.  According to the conditions of the Competition, all entrants likely to be in conflict of interest would be excluded from the Competition.

     On February 25, 2002, Mr Leung declared that, to the best of his knowledge, none of his immediate family members or employees and no one who had an employment-type contract or close professional association or partnership with him had entered the competition, and that he was not a director or major shareholder of any company.

     On the following two days (February 26 and 27), the Jury assessed the entries and selected the first prize winner, second prize winner and three honourable mentions by casting votes.  Mr Leung took part in the adjudication process (including voting).

     After the voting process had been completed, it came to the notice of the Competition Team that a project team member of an entrant on the preliminary list of winning entries appeared to be associated with Mr Leung.

     On the following day (February 28) before the announcement of the competition results, the Competition Team informed Mr Leung of the above finding.  Mr Leung reported the matter to the Jury that morning, and the Jury decided to disqualify the entry concerned in accordance with the conditions of the Competition.  The results of the Competition were announced that afternoon.

     Given the disqualification of the entry associated with Mr Leung, there was no association between Mr Leung and the companies pertaining to the winning entries announced in the Competition.

     On March 11, 2002, Mr Leung wrote to the Competition Team explaining that, before taking part in the adjudication, he had not been aware of the involvement of the company associated with him in the activities relating to the Competition.

     Subsequently, in mid-2003, at a meeting of the Executive Council to consider the Administration's progress report on the work of the Steering Committee for Development of the West Kowloon Cultural District, Mr Leung declared that he was a member of the Jury for adjudicating the Competition, and his company was named 'Property Advisers' of one of the entrants of the Competition which was not one of the winners."

Ends/Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Issued at HKT 20:45

NNNN

Print this page