Tag Archives: China

     The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Kwai Chung Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

     “The approved OZP provides a statutory land use planning framework to guide the development and redevelopment within the Kwai Chung area,” a spokesperson for the Town Planning Board said today (October 13).

     The planning scheme area, covering about 1 025 hectares, is situated in Tsuen Wan New Town within the Kwai Tsing Administration District. It includes various parts of Kwai Chung Valley in the northeast and the container terminals on reclaimed land in the southwest. 

     The approved OZP has incorporated amendments shown on the draft Kwai Chung OZP No. S/KC/31, which mainly involves (i) rezoning a site to the east of Shek Pai Street from “Green Belt” (“GB”) to “Residential (Group A)3”, and a site to the east of Lei Pui Street and a site to the east of On Chuk Street from “GB” to “Government, Institution or Community” (“G/IC”) for proposed public housing development and the supporting facilities; (ii) rezoning a site to the east of Tai Lin Pai Road from “Industrial” to “Residential (Group A)4” for public housing development; (iii) rezoning a site at the southern end of Kwai Yue Street from “G/IC” to “Other Specified Uses” (“OU”) annotated “Columbarium(2)” for public columbarium development; and (iv) rezoning a site at the junction of Kwok Shui Road and Lei Muk Road from “Open Space” to “OU” annotated “Buildings with Historical and Architectural Interests Preserved for Social Welfare Facility Use” to facilitate a development of residential care home for the elderly with preservation of historical buildings.

     Opportunity is also taken to amend the Notes and Explanatory Statement of the OZP to reflect the above amendments and to update the general information of various land use zonings and the planning circumstances, where appropriate.

     The approved Kwai Chung OZP No. S/KC/32 is available for public inspection during office hours at (i) the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, (ii) the Planning Enquiry Counters, (iii) the Tsuen Wan and West Kowloon District Planning Office and (iv) the Kwai Tsing District Office.

     Copies of the approved OZP are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the OZP can be viewed on the Town Planning Board’s website (www.tpb.gov.hk). read more

     The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft Kennedy Town & Mount Davis Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).

     “The approved OZP provides a statutory land use planning framework to guide the development and redevelopment within the Kennedy Town and Mount Davis area,” a spokesperson for the Town Planning Board said today (October 13).

     The planning scheme area, covering about 172 hectares, is situated at the north-western corner of Hong Kong Island. The Belcher Bay and Sulphur Channel constitute the natural boundaries in the north and west, Hill Road and Pok Fu Lam Road delineate the eastern boundary, while Mount Davis Road forms its southern limit.
      
     The approved OZP has incorporated an amendment shown on the draft Kennedy Town & Mount Davis OZP No. S/H1/23, which involves revision of building height restriction for a portion of the “Government, Institution or Community” zone at the junction of Pok Fu Lam Road and Pokfield Road from four storeys to 115 metres above Principal Datum (mPD) and 155mPD, to take forward the decision of the Metro Planning Committee of the Town Planning Board on a Section 12A application.

     Opportunity is also taken to amend the Explanatory Statement of the OZP to reflect the above amendment and to update the general information of various land use zonings and the planning circumstances, where appropriate.

     The approved Kennedy Town & Mount Davis OZP No. S/H1/24 is available for public inspection during office hours at (i) the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, (ii) the Planning Enquiry Counters, (iii) the Hong Kong District Planning Office and (iv) the Central and Western Home Affairs Enquiry Centre.

     Copies of the approved OZP are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the OZP can be viewed on the Town Planning Board’s website (www.tpb.gov.hk). read more

     The Chief Executive in Council has approved the draft So Kwun Wat Outline Zoning Plan (OZP). 

     “The approved OZP provides a statutory land use planning framework to guide the development and redevelopment within the So Kwun Wat area”, a spokesperson for the Town Planning Board said today (October 13). 
      
     The planning scheme area, covering about 474 hectares, is located to the southeast of Tuen Mun New Town. It is bounded to the north and the east by the dam of the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir and Tai Lam Country Park respectively, to the south by Castle Peak Road and the coast, and to the west and southwest by Tuen Mun New Town.
      
     The approved OZP has incorporated an amendment shown on the draft So Kwun Wat OZP No. S/TM-SKW/14, which involves the rezoning of a site at Hong Fai Road from “Government, Institution or Community” and “Green Belt” to “Government, Institution or Community(1)” with stipulation of a maximum building height of 90 metres above Principal Datum for redevelopment of the existing low-rise Junior Staff Married Quarters of the Correctional Services Department.
      
     Opportunity is also taken to amend the Notes and Explanatory Statement of the OZP to reflect the above amendment and to update the general information of various land use zonings and the planning circumstances, where appropriate. Technical amendments are also made to the Notes, as appropriate.
      
     The approved So Kwun Wat OZP No. S/TM-SKW/15 is available for public inspection during office hours at (i) the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, (ii) the Planning Enquiry Counters, (iii) the Tuen Mun and Yuen Long West District Planning Office, (iv) the Tuen Mun District Office and (v) the Tuen Mun Rural Committee.
      
     Copies of the approved OZP are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the OZP can be viewed on the Town Planning Board’s website (www.tpb.gov.hk). read more

     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (October 13) released the latest grading of water quality for 39 gazetted beaches (see Note 1) and one non-gazetted beach (see Note 2).
      
     Twenty-two beaches were rated as Good (Grade 1), 15 as Fair (Grade 2), and three as Poor (Grade 3).
 
Grade 1 beaches are:          

Butterfly Beach*	Middle Bay Beach*
Cafeteria New Beach*	Pui O Beach*
Cafeteria Old Beach	Repulse Bay Beach*
Cheung Chau Tung Wan Beach*	Shek O Beach*
Chung Hom Kok Beach	South Bay Beach*
Clear Water Bay First Beach*	St Stephen’s Beach*
Golden Beach*	Tai Po Lung Mei Beach*
Hap Mun Bay Beach*	Tong Fuk Beach
Hung Shing Yeh Beach*	Trio Beach*
Kiu Tsui Beach	Turtle Cove Beach
Lo So Shing Beach	Upper Cheung Sha Beach

Grade 2 beaches are:

Approach Beach	Kadoorie Beach*
Big Wave Bay Beach*	Kwun Yam Beach
Casam Beach*	Lido Beach*
Castle Peak Beach	Lower Cheung Sha Beach
Clear Water Bay Second Beach*	Silverstrand Beach*
Deep Water Bay Beach*	Stanley Main Beach
Discovery Bay	Ting Kau Beach*
Hoi Mei Wan Beach

Grade 3 beach are:

Anglers’ Beach*	Silver Mine Bay Beach*
Ma Wan Tung Wan Beach*

 
     Compared with the grading released last week, Kwun Yam Beach and Stanley Main Beach have been changed from Grade 1 to Grade 2, and Silver Mine Bay Beach from Grade 2 to Grade 3.
      
     “The changes are generally within the normal range of fluctuation of the bacteriological water quality of the beaches,” an EPD spokesman said.
      
     Under the present grading system, beaches are classified into four grades, namely Good (Grade 1), Fair (Grade 2), Poor (Grade 3) and Very Poor (Grade 4), according to the level of E. coli in the water. Grades are calculated on the basis of the geometric mean of the E. coli counts on the five most recent sampling occasions.
      
     While the ratings represent the general water quality at the beaches, the EPD spokesman reminded members of the public that water quality could be temporarily affected during and after periods of heavy rain. Bathers should avoid swimming at beaches for up to three days after a tropical cyclone or heavy rainfall.
      
     A summary of beach grades is published weekly before the weekend. The latest beach grades based on the most current data may be obtained from the EPD’s website on Beach Water Quality (www.epd.gov.hk/epd/beach) or the beach hotline, 2511 6666.
      
     In line with the vision to develop Hong Kong into a smart city, the EPD launched the Beach Water Quality Forecast System on August 15 to provide daily water quality forecasts for all gazetted beaches in Hong Kong that are open for swimming, to supplement the existing beach water quality monitoring programme and further enhance services to the public (see Note 3). From now on, members of the public can obtain the latest daily water quality forecast information for all beaches through the Beach Water Quality Forecast mobile application (available for download from: www.epd.gov.hk/en/BWQApp) or the dedicated beach water quality forecast page (www.epd.gov.hk/en/BWQForecast) on the EPD’s beach thematic website.
 
Note 1: Lifeguard services are provided by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at 26 gazetted beaches, marked with an asterisk (*) above, from September 28. Stanley Main Beach is temporarily closed for clearance and urgent repair works. For details, please refer to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s Special Announcement (https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/beach/index.html).
 
Note 2: This refers to the non-gazetted beach in Discovery Bay which has no lifeguard service.
 
Note 3: The EPD launched the Beach Water Quality Forecast System on August 15, 2023. For the press release, please visit www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202308/15/P2023081400345.htm. read more

     The Government received a total of 2 778 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the first quarter of 2023, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (October 13).
      
     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of March 2023 amounted to 112 952. Of these, 6 670 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 5 667 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information or cannot confirm or deny the existence of information. As at March 31, 2023, 567 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 100 048 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 97 002 requests (97 per cent) were met, either in full (94 303 requests) or in part (2 699 requests), and 3 046 requests (3 per cent) were refused.

     Any member of the public who is dissatisfied with the response of a bureau/department under the Code may request that the matter be reviewed. He or she may also lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

     In the first quarter of 2023, the Ombudsman received 16 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded 20 complaints, among which five were partially substantiated, 13 were concluded by inquiries (including four cases with inadequacies found), and two were assessed and closed. As at March 31, 2023, the Ombudsman’s investigations on 14 complaints were ongoing.

     “The Code has provided an effective framework for the public to seek access to information held by the Government,” the spokesman said. read more