Letters

Three hotels for Ocean Park will help community

Referring to the letter by the chairman of the Southern District Sustainable Development Group ('Don't develop Ocean Park at the expense of Wong Chuk Hang', June 16), there are some points we would like to clarify.

Ocean Park received the support, in principal, of the financial secretary's Task Force on Redevelopment of Ocean Park and Tourist Attractions in Aberdeen, in January, to build three hotels within the park. Our planned hotel development will be an important supporting infrastructure to enhance the park's tourism appeal, diversify guests' experience and lengthen their stay both in Ocean Park and Hong Kong. It will also provide quantifiable benefits to the surrounding community in terms of spillover spending and business generation.

Our three hotels will be located in different areas within the existing park property. Full land premiums will be paid to the government for all three sites. As with the previous 31 years of operation, there will be no burden on taxpayers for any of the proposed new developments at Ocean Park.

The park will publicly tender the design, construction and operation of these hotels and will award the work to the most qualified and competitive candidates. The definitive planning, development and tendering parameters are being drawn up at present.

Members of the Economic Development Panel of the Legislative Council and the Southern District Council reviewed our plans earlier in the year and have given their support, in principal.

As a Hong Kong homegrown landmark, a good corporate citizen and a neighbour within the Southern District, we take painstaking care to ensure we remain respectful of the environment and sympathetic to the concerns of our neighbours, while being faithful to sound business objectives.