scmp: Developers step up pressure over bill on flat sales

痴線！監管賣樓要用建築面積係違反基本法言論自由，咁度量衡行十進制玩完啦，HKD980原來係64進制(實價=8*64+9*64*64)，吹咩我有自由。

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Developers step up pressure over bill on flat sales

Developers want the government to remove two key components of a bill to regulate the sale of new homes, which their lawyers say are unconstitutional.

The call by the Real Estate Developers Association comes as members of a panel studying the bill rush to finish their clause-by-clause scrutiny to get it through before the legislature's term ends in July.

Association secretary general Louis Loong Hon-biu said the two disputed measures - a requirement to publish price lists before sale and a ban on quoting gross floor area to describe flat sizes - should be removed because of the rush.

He said the bill could be split in two parts, with the undisputed clauses legislated on first and the others added later after revision.

But bill committee member Democrat Lee Wing-tat said he objected to any separation "because the two measures are the key elements, without which the law would be meaningless".

The Transport and Housing Bureau said it had no plans to legislate the bill in phases and aimed to complete the legislation in the current term.

Loong said the association made the suggestion after consulting constitutional law expert David Pannick QC and two other lawyers on the bill.

"We are not against legislation, but we want to make sure it is a good law in compliance with the Basic Law and human rights," he said.

According to a 24-page joint opinion by Pannick and Tristan Jones, both from London's Blackstone Chambers, and Wilson Leung from Temple Chambers in Hong Kong, the price-list rule would place a restriction on a developer's right to dispose of its property, and amending the price list could also "create confusion and obfuscation rather than transparency".

The ban on gross floor area in advertisements and brochures would violate freedom of speech, a right to be upheld even in the context of commercial advertising, the lawyers said.

They referred to a 2008 Court of Appeal case in which a doctor successfully challenged the Medical Council's restrictions on doctors' rights to advertise their practice.

The developers disagree with the government view that gross floor area - with a share of common areas in the development added to the actual size of the flat - is misleading to buyers.

"We don't want to delay the bill, but there should be enough time to examine the bill carefully," Loong said.

He added that a standardised definition of gross floor area should be written into the bill first.

He said it was premature to say whether the association would seek a judicial review if the bill was passed unchanged and took effect next year.

joyce.ng@scmp.com

scmp: Power transfer system means no more cables

點解Prof. Ron Hui離開左城大？

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Power transfer system means no more cables

Refrigerators with no power cords and mobile phones that can be charged though a wall are on the way thanks to a wireless power transfer system developed by University of Hong Kong researchers.

Wireless transfer based on electrodynamic induction - where electricity passes from one device to another without any direct connection as in a rechargeable electric toothbrush - has been around for years. But until now it was possible only over short distances.

The system devised by Ron Hui Shu-yuen, chair professor of power electronics at the university, and Lee Chi-kwan, assistant professor of electrical and electronic engineering, can transmit power over what they term a medium range of a few metres.

The electricity travels through an electromagnetic coupling between a series of resonating coils arranged in domino-like patterns that allow flow to be reversed or even split into branches with little power loss.

"With the multiple coils system, electricity passes through distance as in a relay [race]," Hui said. "We can easily charge a mobile phone or supply power to the television next door through the wall."

When the system was patented by Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla more than a century ago, it was assumed it would work only between two coils, limiting the distance over which it could be used. But the team found a way of making the power travel from coil to coil. Hui - who also invented the first universal wireless battery charging plate for hand-held electronic products in 2005 - said the new system would be useful in sites such as heritage buildings where drilling was not allowed.

Even over longer distances, efficiency could be kept at 80 per cent.

As the electromagnetic coupling was not radioactive, there were no health risks even when used throughout an entire house.

The theory has been peer-reviewed and was published in the latest volume of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' journal Transactions on Power Electronics last month.

Hui said his team had patented part of the research and the project had been granted about HK$1 million from the government's Innovation and Technology Fund to extend the transmission distance and improve efficiency of the system.

"If it works like it does in theory, we may transmit electricity wirelessly even between continents," he said.

johnny.tam@scmp.com

scmp: Li puts his faith in city's core values

李嘉誠呼籲民眾為自由與法治刻芯價值上街，但強調愛港愛國，支持新政府，不會撤資。

您yak蕉啦，同您好fd呀？愛港嘅就即刻撤資，唔好霸住晒d財地。您羅您一、兩成舖位連存貨一間一間散賣出來，等每間分店經理自行融資接手，香港都生色不少啦！

Li puts his faith in city's core values

Tanna Chong Updated on Mar 30, 2012 http://tinyurl.com/cxtay5h

Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, yesterday called on the city to rally around its core values of "freedom and rule of law", in the wake of his favoured candidate's loss in the chief executive election. Li was a staunch backer of former chief secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, but the chairman of Cheung Kong (Holdings) said he would "absolutely support the [new] government", which takes office in July led by Leung Chun-ying. Speaking at the announcement of the annual results for Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, Li said the Hong Kong government did not hinge on one person. "It is important to protect Hong Kong's core values - freedom and the rule of law. As for democracy, it is enshrined in the Basic Law and will go on to develop [according to the mini-constitution]," he said. "Everyone should support the government, which is based not only on one person, but the whole administration." Li repeatedly stated his high-profile support for Tang, who lost Sunday's chief executive election with 285 votes to Leung's 689. While some major developers, such as New World Development's Henry Cheng Kar-shun, made a last-minute shift to Leung's camp, Li persisted in his support for Tang. Li reportedly turned down a request from Vice-President Xi Jinping to back Leung. "The election is over," said Li. "We will adopt a co-operative attitude towards the government." Li said he did not fear that the property market would be affected by the new government, stressing he would not withdraw his capital from the city - contrary to speculation during the campaign. "I love our nation and Hong Kong," he said, adding he would not pull out of the city. Hutchison's investments in Hong Kong account for around 16 per cent of the company's global stake. "Hong Kong has the Basic Law and its legal system," he said. "No one has ever been affected because they voted for the other [loser's] side." tanna.chong@scmp.com

scmp:Court rules against permanent residency for maids

上訴法庭駁回原判決，外傭無權申請永久居港合憲，外傭代表考慮上訴至終訴法院。

真搞笑！如果佢地係靠自己儲錢、飛來港讀書/搵工、直接受聘，再夠鐘而入藉，咁樣，與所有出國既人在同一種競爭環境下而得到永久居留權，我唔介意之餘亦非常欣賞添！但只係被公司post到外國做野，一夠鐘就入到藉，仲不受入境條例限制? 嘩咁間間跨國公司post下d同事去邊就永久住邊呀? 咁仲洗入境處?

咁低人生成本下就出到國做野，已經夠晒唔ordinarily啦，仲發爛要做resident @@，被優待定被歧視呢?

Court rules against permanent residency for maids

Austin Chiu Updated on Mar 28, 2012 http://goo.gl/IWhd2

Foreign domestic helpers do not have the right to apply for permanent residency in Hong Kong, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government on Wednesday, overturning a lower court's controversial ruling.

The appeal court held, in a unanimous ruling, that the exclusion of foreign domestic helpers from applying for a permanent identity card was constitutional.

It held that the presence of such workers in the city was special and they were different from refugees and prisoners not in type, but only in degree. The challenged immigration provision gives effect to the Joint Declaration signed by the British and Chinese governments in 1984.

The appeal stems from a ruling by Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon, of the Court of First Instance, who found in September that an immigration provision was unconstitutional. This is because it excluded foreign domestic helpers from being “ordinarily resident” in Hong Kong, a finding that was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal filed by the government, worried about a possible influx of immigrants, and set aside the Court of First Instance ruling.

It also ordered Filipino Evangeline Banao Vallejos, the judicial review applicant who has worked in Hong Kong since 1986, to pay the government's legal costs arising from the appeal and the original judicial review.

An appeal to the top court was likely, said Mark Daly, the lawyer representing Vallejos. “It is highly likely that we are going to take this to the Court of Final Appeal,” he said.

Asked if he was disappointed with the ruling, Daly said: “There is no time for disappointment. We will fight until we see justice.”

He said the case involved important issues including the rule of law, strict legal interpretations and principles of dividing citizens into classes.

Daly said he would study the judgment in detail with his client.

In a 66-page judgment handed down on Wednesday, Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, chief judge of the High Court, wrote: “In my view, the exclusion of foreign domestic helpers under section 2(4)(a)(vi) [of the Basic Law] does not encroach upon the central characteristic of the term ‘ordinarily resident'.

“It is a category of exclusion not different in kind, but only in degree, from the pre-existing categories of excluded persons, for instance, Vietnamese refugees and imprisoned or detained persons,” Cheung wrote.

“Regardless of her own subjective intention or purposes, a foreign domestic helper's stay in Hong Kong is for a very special, limited purpose from society's point of view – to meet society's acute demand for domestic helpers which cannot be satisfactorily met by the local labour market,” he said.“Hence, their stays in Hong Kong are highly regulated so as to ensure that they are here to fulfil the special, limited purpose for which they have been allowed to here in the first place, and no more,” Cheung wrote.

Cheung ruled that there was no case of discrimination, as found by the lower court.

Cheung cited a judgment by permanent judge Kemal Bokhary as saying “different treatment of citizens and non-citizens in regard to the right of abode is a common if not invariable feature of the laws of countries throughout the world, including those with constitutions which prohibit discrimination.”

“The difference of treatment flows inevitably from the fact of the political boundaries which are drawn across the globe,” Cheung said.The other two judges, Mr Justice Robert Tang Ching and Mr Justice Frank Stock agreed.

Stock said the challenged immigration provision no doubt intended to give effect to the Joint Declaration signed in December 1984.

It stated that among “those who would have the right of abode in the city were all Chinese nationals born or who had ordinarily resided in Hong Kong before or after the establishment of the city for seven years or more as well as persons of Chinese nationality born outside Hong Kong of such Chinese nationals”.

After the court ruling in September, the government temporarily halted the processing of applications for permanent identity cards from foreign helpers.

A total of 724 applications were filed between October and January, dropping from a peak of 334 in November to a low of 93 in January.

scmp: Simulated ballot gives everyone a say

Simulated ballot gives everyone a say

Colleen Lee Updated on Mar 21, 2012 http://goo.gl/K78PA All permanent residents aged over 18 will be able to vote on Friday via a website, smartphone app or at one of 15 polling stations. Photo: Thomas Yau All permanent residents aged over 18 will be able to vote on Friday via a website, smartphone app or at one of 15 polling stations. Photo: Thomas Yau

Every adult permanent resident will have the chance to cast a vote for chief executive this Friday, in an attempt to influence the 1,193 people who will choose the city's next leader.
The results of the simulated ballot, organised by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme, will be made known to members of the Election Committee, which will choose Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's successor two days later, on March 25. "We will hold the civil referendum two days before the actual polling day to give Election Committee members and the public a day to digest our results," programme head Dr Robert Chung Ting-yiu said.

Chung set out last month to raise HK$500,000 to run the poll. But with more than HK$760,000 raised, some HK$80,000 has been set aside in case no candidate reaches the required 601 Election Committee votes, which would lead to a poll rerun in May.

He expects around 50,000 people to vote. "It will be very desirable if the turnout reaches 100,000," he said. "If hundreds of thousands of people come out to vote, our [computer] system may get overloaded. But it may indirectly show our success."

Online voters must provide identity card and mobile phone numbers, and at polling stations show their identity card. Personal information will be deleted after one week.

The government said yesterday deputy secretary for financial services and the treasury Alice Lau Yim would head the chief executive-designate's office. Tasked with ensuring the new government's smooth transition, it will operate from the day the chief executive is elected to June 30.

scmp:Studies to test feasibility of cave projects

Studies to test feasibility of cave projects

One possibility being examined is relocating the Sha Tin sewage treatment plant underground, leaving a 28-hectare space to build flats

Olga Wong Updated on Mar 21, 2012 http://goo.gl/iHbOJ

The government is moving towards burying bits of the city - the unsightly ones - in underground caverns, freeing up more land for housing and economic development, according to officials.

Two feasibility studies were in the planning stage, and officials would seek funding approval from lawmakers in April and May, Deputy Secretary for Development Enoch Lam Tin-sing said yesterday.

The studies would give the government a basis for policy guidelines to encourage cavern developments for both public and private sectors - following the example of some European countries - he said.

The idea of using caverns for unpopular utilities - like sewage treatment plants, fuel storage depots, refuse transfer stations and columbariums - has been under discussion for over a year.

The scheme will begin by identifying suitable rock caverns to house 400 government facilities that can be relocated, notably the not-in-my-backyard utilities disliked by nearby residents.

"Like European countries, we can see a local trend of vacating land by putting facilities inside caverns," Lam said. "The extension of the campus of the University of Hong Kong is one example. We expect more from the private sector," he said, adding that caverns have been used as wine cellars, data centres and car parks in Finland and other countries.

The university hid a saltwater reservoir in an artificial cavern next to its Centenary Campus, in a project that cost HK$500 million.

The two feasibility studies, which will cost nearly HK$100 million, will - among other issues - weigh the engineering feasibility of relocating the Sha Tin sewage treatment plant in a cavern, vacating a 28-hectare site for housing development. The proposed 140-hectare site for the cavern is a hill named Nui Po Shan, in Ma On Shan district.

Nui Po Shan was chosen because the rock in that hill is suitable and it is close to the existing plant, according to Lai Cheuk-ho, the chief engineer in the Drainage Services Department. "It will require minimal amendment of the existing sewage tunnel that runs from the existing plant to Kai Tak River and Victoria Harbour, involving the least cost and implications for nearby residents," he said.

The government will seek innovative building methods to shorten the construction period of the project, which could last until 2027.

Lam said the idea of putting facilities in rock caverns had generally been well received by the public, except for residents who could be affected by some projects. A public consultation on plans to increase the city's land supply - including through reclamation and cavern developments - is expected to end by the end of this month.

Five suitable areas for cavern developments were identified in a preliminary government study, which found that two-thirds of the city's hilly areas could accommodate such developments. The five areas are Lam Tei in Tuen Mun, Shek Mun in Sha Tin, Siu Ho Wan on Lantau Island, Mount Davis on Hong Kong Island and Lion Rock in Kowloon.

olga.wong@scmp.com

scmp: Rail link's saga of waste and fraud goes on

Rail link's saga of waste and fraud goes on

Audit officereports further embezzlement, mismanagement and other serious problems related to high-speed Beijing-Shanghai line

Will Clem in Shanghai Updated on Mar 20, 2012 http://tinyurl.com/7d2zxkm

Evidence of yet more fraud, waste, mismanagement and irregular accounting and procurement worth billions of yuan was uncovered in the construction and running of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, according to a report by the National Audit Office yesterday. Irregularities included 491 million yuan (HK$600 million) misappropriated or embezzled by local officials. Serious problems and irregularities related to the project dated back to the bidding process in late 2007, with auditors finding the Ministry of Railways had not followed standard tendering procedures for civil engineering work and contracts for construction materials. In some cases, civil engineering companies were given just 13 hours to place their bids, rather than the minimum of five days stipulated by regulations. The report, the audit office's third investigation into the high-profile rail link, also found there had been difficulties in making payments for the construction work. At the end of May last year, the line had debts of more than 8.25 billion yuan owed to 656 materials suppliers and 1,471 construction contractors. There were also unnecessary costs incurred through mismanagement of the construction process. In March last year, the ministry cancelled the construction of 177 kilometres of wind screening, at a cost of 413 million yuan, following an adjustment to the operating speed of trains on the line. The report also found that though construction of the flagship project had been completed on time, it had run almost 20 per cent over budget. Originally budgeted at 163.8 billion yuan, the project's cost swelled to 196.3 billion yuan by late June - before taking into account "partial design alterations, workers' pay and differences in materials prices and other conditions [that will] increase investment that have yet to be finalised". The figures did not include a further 53.8 billion yuan budgeted to pay for trains to run on the line. A series of stoppages hit the line under a fortnight after the service's launch on June 30, leaving passengers stranded in dozens of trains without lighting or air conditioning for periods of three hours or more. The reputation of the mainland's high-speed railway network was further tarnished on July 28, when a collision between two trains near Wenzhou , Zhejiang province, claimed at least 40 lives. In August, 54 trains running on the Beijing-Shanghai line were recalled by manufacturer China CNR due to safety concerns about flaws in an automated safety system which was blamed for causing the delays. It was later reported that metal fractures had also been found in the axles of the trains. However, the auditors' report said there had been a marked improvement in the situation compared to the previous investigation - released in March last year - which had found financial irregularities totalling almost 5 billion yuan. "Up to late September 2011, correction of problems found in the 2010 audit had basically been fully implemented," the report said. will.clem@scmp.com