In the third stage, after the government has signed a provisional agreement with the selected proponent, the government will submit the agreed development parameters of the chosen scheme to the board for amendment of the outline zoning plan, which will be published for public inspection and comment. Development parameters under scrutiny include the mix and intensity, such as the gross floor area for different uses, permissible plot ratio and maximum building heights, and open space requirements.

The revised outline zoning plan will then go through the normal statutory plan-making process in accordance with the Town Planning Ordinance, including gazettal of the revised plan for public inspection, objection- hearing procedures and further amendments, if necessary, before submission to the chief executive-in-council for approval. The project agreement will only be finalised and executed after the completion of these statutory planning procedures. Any subsequent changes to the development parameters will necessitate further amendments to the approved outline zoning plan and be processed in accordance with the statutory planning procedures.

The OU zoning is not uncommon. Major projects such as the Hong Kong International Airport, railway and associated developments at Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation's Wu Kai Sha Station, Hong Kong Science Park and industrial estates are all zoned OU with specific annotations.

The role of the board in the planning of a large-scale project like this cannot be over-emphasised. The government is committed to taking necessary steps to ensure effective planning control for the project.

DANNY LAU, principal assistant secretary (Planning and Lands)

Unclear English

I went to the Business of Design Week conference and exhibition last week and was appalled by the standard of English of some of the exhibits. I was attracted to the 'chopsticks' project of the Polytechnic University and read the details of the report. When it covered eating habits and utensils in Beijing, the authors suggested keeping some and improving others. The subhead bullet points, however, were written as 'need kept' and 'need improved'. I needed to pause before I understood what these words meant.

A statement on Koreans said that a tool '. . .in helping people in controlling their eating behaviours for a balanced diet'. Again, I needed to pause for a few moments in order to understand what this meant. Shouldn't the students edit the pieces before display boards are put up?

K. CHENG, Tsim Sha Tsui

Setting civil service pay

The opinions in 'Civil service pay: out of touch, out of date' (November 12), by John Burns, require testing by more research and analysis, for and against.

Do 'market forces' always produce socially desirable results? What is the optimum size of the civil service? Are the proposed reforms plutocratic or pluralistic?

Should civil servants at all levels have their pay adjusted, up as well as down, in line with 'market rates'? Some independent commentators argue that directorate officials are paid much less than private sector managers, but these officials are not to be included in the pay-level survey.

Is it fair to set civil service pay by 'market rates' when distortions such as executives earning $50,000 an hour paying workers only $50 can occur? Or should the government set a good example for bad private employers rather than copy them?

What are the objective comparisons of the methodologies of surveys purporting to show civil servants are overpaid and the surveys previously held by the sidelined independent Pay Trend Survey Committee? It surveyed good employers conducting pay policy on a fair and systematic basis. What are the arguments against that being a fair and reasonable method of determining civil service pay?

What were the reasons for 'the crisis of public finance' and were there alternatives for dealing with it without cutting civil service pay, such as tax reform, less public spending on capital projects, and planning investments for private savings that banks could lend if only they could?

Has deflation 'benefited civil servants' (or anyone else) when it was 60 per cent attributable to lower housing rentals, remote from basic costs of living, offset by falling exchange rates, and cyclical?

Which section of the 'public demands no less' than that civil service pay regularly go up and down with 'market rates'? For example, is it private sector workers whose pay is cut, or those who pay them?

MICHAEL SCOTT, council member, Association of Expatriate Civil Servants

Age-old problem

I am having trouble following the arguments of those who seem to object to two people practising gratification using what is considered a secondary orifice. I find it very unusual that the objectors seem to have no problem with this behaviour if one of the people is a 16-year-old girl, but if both people are boys or men then it is unacceptable.

The crux of the matter is not homosexuality. The age of consent for heterosexuals for both sexes is 16. For homosexuals, it is 21 (though gay activists want to lower the age for male homosexuals from 21 to 16 in line with heterosexuals). The issue is deciding if behaviour that I personally classify as, well, icky, should be outlawed for people of a certain age of any sexual orientation - or at what age they no longer need the law to protect them from sexual predators.

NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED

Another view of US

What would we do without correspondents such as this to provide 'intelligent rebuttals' to the 'unintelligent' people who do not share his left-wing view ('One-sided views of US', November 15)?

John Bruce engages in the quintessential liberal sleight of hand, whereby his 'middle view' is balanced and those views that differ from his (read conservative) are never valid or complete and thus dismissed.

In the interest of clarity, perhaps he would further clarify why he did not mention in regard to Nicaragua that it was a brutal communist dictator, Daniel Ortega, that Ronald Reagan's aid was aimed at.

The root of what irks 'moderates' is best summed up in a response to a left-leaning American reporter, who suggested that perhaps some countries (the Palestinian situation) are 'better off' with dictators if they bring about 'peace'. Sensing the naivete in this thinking, President George W. Bush responded, 'But if you're true to democracy, you'll listen to the people, not to your own desires. That's the difference between democracy and a tyrant. We'll hold the Palestinians' feet to the fire to make sure that democracy prevails. I'm so strong on democracy because democracies don't go to war with each other. The people don't like war'.

Why do Mr Bruce and others have an issue with the liberation of 30 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq when it is in these peoples' best interests and enhances US security as well? Because it reduces the market for his idea of enlightened leadership?

GARRY HUNT, Mid-Levels

Seawise blaze

The sinking of Seawise University ('Tung's soft spot bared in father's diary', November 18) actually took place in the Rambler Channel between Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Island (not in Victoria Harbour) in 1972. It must have been a Sunday - I was driving back from a Motor Sports Club autocross meeting at the Lowu Tank Training Ground and sat on a hilltop in Kwai Chung watching her burn merrily for an hour or so.

TONY NEDDERMAN, Mid-Levels