Development Bureau responses to enquiry about judicial review on Queen's Pier

In response to media enquiries about an application for a judicial review on the Antiquities Authority's decision of not declaring Queen's Pier a monument under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, a spokesman for the Development Bureau said today (July 30):

"We note that members of a concerned group have filed a judicial review on the Antiquities Authority's decision of not declaring Queen's Pier as a monument.

The judicial review will not affect the handing over of the site occupied by Queen's Pier to the Central Reclamation Phase III (CRIII) contractor as a works site, which has been delayed for more than five months.

Under the terms of the CRIII contract, the Government is required to hand over the portion of the site occupied by Queen's Pier to the CRIII contractor on February 23, 2007.  

The delay in handing over the Queen's Pier site would lead to a delay in completing the reclamation works and the construction of the planned infrastructures at Queen's Pier, which are critical activities in the context of CRIII.  The resultant delay to the overall completion of the CRIII contract could give rise to contractual claims in the order of several hundred thousand dollars per day.

In view of the calls of the community in the past few months, the Government has been engaging the Legislative Council (LegCo), the District Council, the professional bodies and concerned groups in how Queen's Pier should be preserved.

Separately, the Secretary for Home Affairs, then the Antiquities Authority, informed LegCo that Queen's Pier did not possess the requisite historical, archaeological or palaeontological value for it to be declared a monument under the Antiquities and Monument Ordinance.

On June 15, 2007, the LegCo approved funding of $50 million to preserve the above-ground structure of the Pier and store the components carefully for re-assembling at the Central Harbourfront later on.  This preservation method is the best technically feasible one amongst the four options thoroughly considered by the Government.  

We informed the LegCo Panel on Planning, Lands and Works and Panel Subcommittee on Heritage Conservation, and the Central and Western District Council of the implementation details for the preservation of Queen's Pier on July 24 and 26 respectively.  

To avoid further delay to the CRIII project, we will proceed with the necessary works with a view to handing over the works site to the CRIII contractor as soon as possible. To this effect, the Lands Department has today posted a notice under the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance at Queen's Pier."

Ends/Monday, July 30, 2007
Issued at HKT 22:27


Back