Government plays down antiquities board ruling
Queen's Pier was given Grade I historic building status yesterday after a heated debate among government antiquities advisers in an unprecedented opening meeting.
But officials immediately played down the significance of the grading, stressing the status did not require preservation and did not contradict a decision that the pier be dismantled and removed.
Esther Leung Yuet-yin, deputy secretary for home affairs, said: 'A Grade I building is not a monument, it does not require preservation. The grading does not contradict any of the government's four proposals on reconstructing the pier in the future.'
Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung made a similar remark. The government would resubmit a funding request to the Legislative Council public works subcommittee for reconstructing the pier, he said.
Twelve members of the Antiquities Advisory Board voted to make the pier a Grade I historic building, 10 for Grade II and three for Grade III status. Board member Ng Cho-nam, who supported the Grade I status, left the meeting early and did not vote.
That prompted two members, including Yeung Yiu-chung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, to call for a second vote, as more members voted against giving the pier Grade I status than voted for it. Government sources described the grading as 'marginal'.