Minutes of the 6Th Meeting of the Economy, Development and Planning Committee (EDPC) Southern District Council (2020-2023) (SDC)
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Minutes of the 6th Meeting of the Economy, Development and Planning Committee (EDPC) Southern District Council (2020-2023) (SDC) Date: 18 May 2021 Time: 2:30 p.m. Venue: SDC Conference Room Present: Mr LO Kin-hei (Chairman of SDC) Mr Paul ZIMMERMAN (Vice-Chairman of SDC and Chairman of EDPC) Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael (Vice-Chairman of EDPC) Mr CHAN Hin-chung Mr CHAN Ping-yeung Ms CHAN Yan-yi Mr LAM Andrew Tak-wo Mr LAM Ho-por, Kelvin Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun Ms LI Shee-lin Mr POON Ping-hong Mr TSUI Yuen-wa Mr WONG Yui-hei, Angus Mr YIM Chun-ho Mr YU Chun-hei, James Absent: Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany Secretary: Mr LEE Lok-him, Milton Executive Officer (District Council) 2, Southern District Office, Home Affairs Department In Attendance: Mr TSANG Wing-keung, Rico Senior Town Planner/HK 1, Planning Department Mr LEUNG Cho-chiu, Mafty Estate Surveyor/Aberdeen, Lands Department Mr. LING Chi-wai, Jimmy Engineer/13 (South), Civil Engineering and Development Department Ms LO Kit-sheung Housing Manager/HKI7, Housing Department Attending by Invitation (Agenda Item 2): Ms FONG Fong, Niki Public Relations Manager – Property & Projects, MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) Ms LEE Wing-kei, Fiona Associate, DLN Architects Limited Attending by Invitation (Agenda Item 4): Professor CHAN Ying-shing Associate Dean (Development and Infrastructure), Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Mr Eddie YIU Senior Assistant Director, Estates Office, HKU Mr Jason LUK Assistant Director, Estates Office, HKU Opening Remarks: The Chairman welcomed members and standing Government representatives to the meeting, and said the following: (i) in view of the latest situation of the Coronavirus Disease 2019, this meeting was not open to the public in order to reduce the risk of crowd gathering. EDPC members and media were advised to bring their own masks and water. Before entering the venue, all persons were subject to checking of body temperature with the assistance of the staff of Southern District Office, and are required to use the “LeaveHomeSafe” mobile app to scan the venue QR code, complete a health declaration form and declare whether he/she was under the compulsory quarantine; and (ii) each member would be allotted a maximum of two 3-minute slots to speak in respect of each agenda item. Moreover, members should inform staff of the Secretariat if they had to leave the meeting early. 2. The Chairman said that, on 13 May 2021, the Secretariat received a “Notification of Absence from Southern District Council/Committee/Working Group Meetings” (Notification of Absence) from Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany, stating that she could not attend this meeting for the reason of “fulfilling civic obligations as required by the law (e.g. serving as a juror or acting as a witness in a trial)”, with the detail being: “not granted bail by the court”. According to the SDC Standing Orders, 2 the Committee shall decide whether her application of absence should be accepted; and 3. The Chairman asked members whether they would accept the application of absence submitted by Miss YUEN Ka-wai, Tiffany. Members had no objection, the Committee accepted the above application of absence. Agenda Item 1: Confirmation of the Draft Minutes of the 5th EDPC Meeting held on 23 March 2021 4. The Chairman said that prior to the meeting, the draft minutes of the aforesaid meeting had been circulated to members for comments. The Secretariat had not received any amendment proposals so far. 5. The minutes were confirmed by the Committee. Agenda Item 2: Follow up the Latest Progress of Wong Chuk Hang Comprehensive Development Area (EDPC Paper No. 8/2021) (Item raised by Mr TSUI Yuen-wa) (Ms LAM Yuk-chun, MH joined the meeting at 2:37 p.m.) 6. The Chairman welcomed Ms FONG Fong, Niki, Public Relations Manager - Property and Projects of MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), and Ms LEE Wing-kei, Fiona, Associate of DLN Architects Limited, to the meeting. 7. The Chairman invited Mr TSUI Yuen-wa to brief members on the agenda item. 8. Mr TSUI Yuen-wa briefly introduced the agenda item as follows: (i) He thanked MTRCL representatives for attending the meeting and he was disappointed about the absence of representatives from the Transport Department (TD). He opined that the discussion of the agenda item would involve traffic proposals, and he hoped that TD representatives would 3 attend the meeting and give response. He asked the Chairman to note the matter and convey the comments to the relevant department, requesting its representatives to attend meetings in the future to show respect; (ii) He learnt that MTRCL would provide a walkway in the Wong Chuk Hang Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) to connect MTR Wong Chuk Hang Station to the junction at Shum Wan Road and also provide public open space (POS). The facilities would be convenient for the public, particularly the residents in the district. He hoped that MTRCL would show members the detailed designs of both facilities; (iii) He hoped that MTRCL would reserve connection point in the CDA for the future construction of a footbridge connecting to the junction at Shum Wan Road. He had suggested an alternative proposal that involved the connection of the CDA and the proposed Wong Chuk Hang Community Complex (WCHCC). However, as far as he knew, the CDA might not be able to connect to WCHCC due to technical constraints, and MTRCL could no longer change the connecting point. Although TD and the Invigorating Island South Office (IISO) had responded more proactively in their written replies than before, the Government had not made any commitment so far. Similarly, no Government Department had made it explicit that it would seek resources for constructing a footbridge, which brought the project to a standstill. SDC initially hoped that the completion of the South Island Line (East) and WCHCC could be synchronised. However, with the commissioning of the South Island Line (East) for a long time, the funding application for constructing WCHCC had still not been submitted to the Legislative Council for deliberation mainly because of the failure to confirm the connecting location of the footbridge and the project cost required; (iv) IISO had mentioned in its written reply that it hoped to provide convenience to pedestrians going to and from the vicinity of Wong Chuk Hang and improve the traffic situation. He considered that TD and relevant departments should take the opportunity to implement the key initiatives in the Chief Executive’s 2020 Policy Address. In addition, he learnt that IISO was reviewing the redevelopment of Pao Yue Kong Swimming Pool. If the said proposal on footbridge connection could not be implemented in the end, he hoped that IISO would consider connecting the footbridge to Welfare Road and Shum Wan Road near Pao Yue Kong Swimming Pool; and 4 (v) He hoped that the relevant departments would report to the Committee the latest progress of the WCHCC project. 9. The Chairman said that before the meeting, the Secretariat had invited TD to send representatives to the meeting but the department said that they were not able to do so. (Mr Jonathan LEUNG Chun, Ms LI Shee-lin and Mr PANG Cheuk-kei, Michael joined the meeting at 2:45 p.m., 2:51 p.m. and 2:52 p.m. respectively.) 10. The Chairman invited the representatives of MTRCL to respond. 11. Ms FONG Fong, Niki, with the aid of PowerPoint presentation (PowerPoint 1), gave a consolidated response as follows: (i) The MTR Wong Chuk Hang Station property development had been named “THE SOUTHSIDE”. The project comprised six development packages and had been awarded to different developers to take forward the construction works. The project would include the construction of 14 towers to provide a total of around 5 200 residential units, as well as a shopping mall, POS and a 24-hour covered pedestrian walkway. The packages of the project were expected to be completed in phases from 2022 to 2027; (ii) The social welfare facilities in Package 1 of the project was expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022 and the subsequent work would be undertaken by the Social Welfare Department (SWD). The developer would maintain communication with SWD to ensure a smooth handover; and (iii) The mall in Package 3 of the project was expected to be completed in 2023. By then, the pedestrian walkway connecting the MTR station, the mall, the bus terminus at Nam Long Shan Road, the public light bus terminus at Police School Road and social welfare facilities would also be open 24 hours a day to provide easy access for the public. 12. Ms LEE Wing-kei, Fiona, with the aid of PowerPoint 1, briefly introduced the design of the pedestrian walkway, the mall and POS. 5 13. The Chairman said that given the complexity of the content of the PowerPoint presentation provided by MTRCL, it was difficult for members to read the information on the display screen in the conference room. He asked the Secretariat to provide the printed version of the PowerPoint presentation or upload it onto the SDC website for members’ reference, and hoped that the relevant department and organisation would submit reference papers to the Secretariat as early as possible in future meetings. 14. The Secretariat provided the printed version of PowerPoint 1 to members and uploaded it onto the SDC website. Ms LEE Wing-kei, Fiona continued to introduce the design of the pedestrian walkway, the mall and POS. 15. The Chairman asked whether MTRCL had prepared a three-dimensional model of CDA for members’ reference.