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Dennis Eng

Sun Hung Kai Properties likely to be the sole bidder
Despite receiving only one bid so far, the government says it will go ahead with tendering for the mammoth Kai Tak cruise terminal project and will not extend the  deadline, which  expires tomorrow.
Sun Hung Kai Properties, which has teamed up with Star Cruises, is expected to be the sole contender after a number of developers decided to drop out.  The partnership also  includes VXL Capital and Nan Fung Development.
HKR International shelved its bid because of the project's high cost and difficulties in finding suitable  partners, managing director Victor Cha Mou-zing said yesterday.
Another developer  said it was dropping out because of the project's complexity and a lack of time to  adequately prepare a bid.
Henderson Land Development, New World Development as well as Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hutchison Whampoa reserved comment until after the tender closes tomorrow at  noon.
The government issued the open tender on November 9  for the development of a  cruise terminal on the site of the former airport at Kai Tak.
Some members of the Real Estate Developers Association had called for the deadline to be extended,   arguing that the four-month tender period was  insufficient.
A Commerce and Economic Development Bureau spokesman said the tender would close  as scheduled.
He said an assessment panel would evaluate the  bids before awarding the project in the second quarter of the year.
The successful tenderer will have to  provide a bond of HK$75 million as a guarantee that the first berth will be ready by February 2012.
In late 2005, the government carried out an expression-of-interest exercise for  cruise terminal facilities while the Kai Tak Planning Review was proceeding.  Six submissions were received on development of a  cruise terminal at a site other than Kai Tak. None was accepted by the government due to technical difficulties, and the focus shifted to Kai Tak.
The submissions were from  Henderson Land Development, Dragages Hong Kong, Singapore Cruise Centre Private, Asia Pacific International Enterprises, Ocean Style and Proteam Services, which was  renamed Cruise City (Hong Kong).
The successful tenderer will  design, build, operate, manage and maintain the  terminal for 50 years, starting with the first berth in  2012.
The terminal, which will sit on 7.6 hectares,  will feature a baggage handling area of about 30,000 square metres, customs, immigration and health quarantine areas, and space for  government departments.
The first berth will be able to handle  a large cruise liner, and the second berth, with a similar capacity,   can be commissioned after 2015 at the request of the government.  When completed, both berths will be able to handle two large vessels or three smaller ones.
A maximum of  50,000 square metres in the cruise terminal  will be for hotel, shop,  convention and office space, and there will be a landscaped deck of at least 22,000 square metres.



Extension ruled out for cruise terminal deadline