THE Town Planning Board is set to approve controversial government proposals in the next few days to limit the size of buildings in Kowloon even though it has received more than 300 objections from property experts.
The Executive Council is expected to approve the board's decision by the end of the month, clearing the way for a blanket reduction in plot ratios, expected to cost developers about $100 billion in lost office and apartment rental income.
The move has caused dismay among surveyors and architects, prompting one leading member of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors to accuse the Government of driving a coach and horses through the Town Planning Ordinance.
'The 300 objectors can't all be wrong, but everything has been overruled,' said the surveyors' representative who co-ordinated the institute's objections, Trevor Farnworth.
The board is meant to be independent but is chaired by Peter Pun Kwok-shing, the Director of Planning, whose department is backing the changes.
A senior member of the Town Planning Board said none of the objections would be accepted, even though several board members were worried by the Draconian way the proposal had been pushed through.