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Following is the question by the Hon Cheung Hok-ming and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (November 23):
Question:
It has always been the intention of the Government to develop cruise terminal facilities in South East Kowloon (i.e. the Kai Tak area), but the plan cannot be implemented in the near future as the Kai Tak Planning Review is underway. In view of this, the Tourism Commission announced on the 3rd of this month that interested parties are invited to submit Expressions of Interest for the development of a new cruise terminal, in order to ascertain whether there were suitable locations other than Kai Tak that might enable an earlier development of a cruise terminal. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) as it is stipulated in the Invitation Document that no residential development may be included in the Cruise Terminal Development, whether it has assessed if such a stipulation will discourage the commercial sector from investing in the development of the cruise terminal; and
(b) whether commercial developments may be included in the Cruise Terminal Development; if so, of the floor area that may be developed; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) & (b) It has been the Government's view that the site at the end of the runway of the former Kai Tak Airport at South East Kowloon (Kai Tak) is most suitable for the development of new cruise terminal facilities. Before making the final decision on the location, we must ensure that the selected site is the best site available and it is acceptable from the town planning point of view. We launched an open invitation for Expressions of Interest on the third of this month, the purpose of which is to ascertain whether there are suitable and feasible sites other than Kai Tak for the development of a new cruise terminal before 2011. If we cannot identify a site that can meet all our requirements through this invitation for Expressions of Interest, the Government will not consider any sites other than Kai Tak and will focus on developing a new cruise terminal at Kai Tak. If there are suggestions that meet our requirements, the Government will follow the current planning procedures by conducting an in-depth study on the overall suitability of the proposed sites for development of a new cruise terminal, and put the site to competitive bidding after public consultation.
The Government's Invitation Document has specified a number of requirements. The Government will not consider any suggestion in the Expressions of Interest that fails to comply with such requirements. Based on town planning considerations, one of the requirements is that the suggested site for cruise terminal development must be compatible with other land uses in the vicinity. According to the study of our cruise consultant, the terminal will be busy with ground handling activities, e.g., embarkation and disembarkation of passengers, luggage handling, provisioning of supplies, minor repairs, etc., and will need to operate 24 hours a day. The consultant considered that the cruise terminal would be incompatible with residential development. We have specified in the Invitation Document that any suggestion on enhancement facilities for the new cruise terminal must not include residential development. It can, however, incorporate other tourism-related facilities to enhance the attractiveness of the cruise terminal to visitors and also its financial viability, making the project more attractive to investors. Such an arrangement is in line with the development concepts proposed in the current Outline Concept Plans of the Kai Tak Planning Review.
As the location of the cruise terminal has yet to be confirmed, the land use and planning details such as commercial floor area are not available at the moment. We will work out such details in accordance with the established planning procedures. Once these details are confirmed, the new cruise terminal and the related tourist facilities will be put to competitive bidding.
Ends/Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Issued at HKT 12:25
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