Air quality curbs Hong Kong project

HONG Kong's planning board has approved a reduction in size of a proposed waterfront development by more than half to improve air quality, bowing to environmental groups and possibly giving up billions of dollars in government revenue.

The Town Planning Board "preliminarily approved" the Planning Department's proposal for the 36975-square-meter site in the North Point district, Brenda Au, a spokeswoman for the board, said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported.

Hong Kong environmental groups are urging the government to cap waterfront building heights to help improve air quality. Large buildings create a "wall effect" that blocks air from the harbor, allowing pollution to build up on inland streets.

"This is a milestone," said Gabrielle Ho, project manager at Greensense, a local environmental group. "The government is finally willing to listen to our concerns. We hope they will apply the same principle to similar sites in the future."

Greensense took unsuccessful legal action in June in an attempt to block the planned government auction of a building site in Tai Kok Tsui district, on the grounds public agencies had not provided guidelines to prevent the "wall effect."

Air pollution costs Hong Kong about HK$21.2 billion (US$2.7 billion) a year in hospital admissions and lost productivity, according to a study released in 2006 by three Hong Kong universities and a research group. Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang pledged during his election campaign last year to tackle pollution as a priority.

The cut in the size of the buildings allowed on the North Point site may reduce government revenue from the sale of the land by about HK$15.6 billion, according to Pang Shiu-kee, managing director at Hong Kong-based S K Pang Surveyors & Co.