In response to press enquiries on the Society for Protection of the Harbour (SPH)'s decision not to appeal against the High Court Judgment in relation to the Central Reclamation Phase III (CRIII), a spokesman for the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau said today (April 15):
"We appeal to all stakeholders and the community at large to join hands to create a vibrant harbour-front for the enjoyment of the public. In this respect, the Harbour-front Enhancement Committee (HEC) will come into existence soon to champion this work.
We are pleased to note that SPH has nominated one of its directors to sit on the Committee. Together with representatives from various sectors of the community, community leaders, and relevant government bureaux and departments, we are confident that the Committee will effectively discharge its role.
We share SPH's view that the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) judgment has provided the final interpretation of the presumption against reclamation under the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance.
We have repeatedly made public pledge that apart from the current CRIII, the Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon, there will be no more reclamations within the harbour in future. In recent months, all other proposed reclamations have been removed from our Outline Zoning Plans. They include the ones at Tsuen Wan Bay, off Green Island on Hong Kong Island West and even two piers yet to be reclaimed in West Kowloon.
We will ensure full compliance with the CFA's "overriding public need test" in taking forward the two reviews on the remaining reclamation proposals with the Harbour, Wan Chai North and Southeast Kowloon and we will consult the public and HEC at every stage of the review.
CRIII has gone through a due process of scrutiny supported by extensive public consultations. As a result of extensive public consultations and objective received during the process of taking forward the project, the area of reclamation has been reduced from 32 hectares to 18 hectares, which is already the minimum reclamation."
Noting that SPH's statement mentioned that the Government had deliberately proceeded urgently with the CRIII works, the spokesman said,"The Government has indeed fully respected the spirit of the rule of law by voluntarily suspending certain marine works under CRIII (between September 2003 and March 2004) pending the disposal of the court cases.
"It should be noted that CRIII works follows a due programme of authorisation, funding, tendering, resulting in the award of contract on February 10, 2003, before the first litigation commenced. Indeed, that first application for judicial review lodged by SPH concerns the draft Wan Chai North plan, not the Central Plan or CRIII.
"With two court cases on CRIII ruled in Government's favour and given the urgency of the works to meet essential transport needs as well as the contractual implications, there is no valid ground for the Government not to proceed with the CRIII works. As a matter of good administration, the CRIII project must proceed without further delay," the spokesman said.
Responding to SPH's allegation that the Government had unreasonably refused to agree to the 'leap frog procedure' for the appeal to go directly to the CFA, the spokesman said, "An application for direct appeal to the CFA must satisfy the stringent criteria under section 27C of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance. That is, an application for appeal direct to the CFA has to satisfy that the criteria of involving a point or points of law of great general or public importance relating wholly or mainly to the construction of an ordinance that has been fully argued in the proceedings and fully considered in the judgment. We have sought the Department of Justice and Senior Counsel's advice, which considers that the application by SPH does not meet the criteria for a direct appeal to the CFA."
"It should be noted that the application is also subject to the approval by the Court of First Instance and the Appeal Committee of the CFA. It is incumbent upon a responsible Government to give careful consideration to the application. Under these circumstances, we are unable to consent to the 'leapfrog' application," the spokesman explained.
Ends/Thursday, April 15, 2004
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