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Colleen Lee

The government plans to grant land premium concessions to encourage more businesses to set up in economically depressed Tin Shui Wai.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma Si-hang said this yesterday as he joined more than 30 businesspeople on a half-day tour of the isolated new town to explore opportunities.
Proposals being floated to provide more jobs range from factory outlets selling cut-price goods to spas for the less well-off.
Mr Ma said Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah had already announced that the government planned to set aside land from the application list for hotel development in the area 'and we hope to accommodate it in terms of payments of land premium'.
He said area 108A, a plot opposite the Wetland Park that borders Tin Shui Wai, was already in the land application list for commercial use and the government would try to encourage its development into a hotel.
He said a similar approach could be taken with some of the ideas proposed yesterday.
'Many ideas have to rely on the business sector to carry them out. I think, in this respect, it will be better for the business sector to take the initiative and then the government will accommodate them [through land premiums]. It should be more effective,' he said.
Mr Ma and dozens of entrepreneurs visited several plots of undeveloped land in the northern part of Tin Shui Wai on the tour, organised by the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.
The chairman of electronics manufacturer Sweda Group, Paul So Wing-keung, proposed setting up a factory outlet next to the Wetland Park to sell the previous seasons' brands at lower prices.
Mr So, honorary president of the Hong Kong Young Industrialists Council, said the warehouse and store would need a lot of labour but it was too early to say how many jobs could be created. 'The outlet store can attract people from other districts and mainlanders as it can offer a variety of brands, including clothes and watches, at a very low price,' he said.
'Families who come to shop will also have meals in the area and boost catering businesses there,' Mr So said.
But there was no concrete plan as to when it would be set up  and it would depend on rent and government policies, he said.
Modern Beauty Salon chairwoman and chief executive officer Joyce Tsang Yue  suggested opening a budget spa, also near the Wetland Park.
'The more people it serves, the more people we can hire,' she said.
Her group would hold a job fair in Tin Shui Wai soon to hire staff for its salons at more than 40 locations, she said. 'We will provide on-the-job training and free transport to save their transport fares,' Ms Tsang said.
She was also planning to set up a babysitting centre at a multi-storey car park in Grandeur Terrace in the northern part of Tin Shui Wai to help working parents, she said.
Lack of job opportunities has been singled out as a key cause of the troubles besetting Tin Shui Wai, which has become notorious for domestic violence, family tragedies and other social problems.
More than 1,000 residents queued from 6am for 150 temporary jobs on offer at a recruitment expo on Sunday.
Another recruitment exercise on Thursday will offer 775 catering jobs.
The proposals
A factory outlet next to the Wetland Park
A centre for dai pai dong, open-air food stalls, beside Tin Yan Estate
A babysitting centre in Grandeur Terrace in northern Tin Shui Wai
A nightclub with affordable prices for the general public
A distribution centre for fruit and vegetables imported from the mainland
Set up factories of precast concrete slabs in the industrial areas of Yuen Long and Tuen Mun



Land premium concessions to lure business to aid Tin Shui Wai