Letters | University of Hong Kong’s innovation centre: great idea, wrong place
- Readers discuss the plan to build a university facility in Pok Fu Lam, the HK$2 transport fare scheme, and sales in the second-hand property market
The University of Hong Kong’s proposed site for its Global Innovation Centre comprises 4.72 hectares, of which 4.12 hectares (87 per cent) are currently zoned “green belt”, being government land. Hence, the rezoning exercise.
The total gross floor area (GFA) proposed is 220,000 sq m to be used for facilities for deep technical research, conferences and exhibitions as well as offices and staff residential quarters. To get a proper sense of scale, the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks’ site at Pak Shek Kok has a GFA of 330,000 sq m.
The site for the Global Innovation Centre has been chosen purely for the convenience of it being close to HKU’s main campus. The current green belt zoning correctly reflects the vegetated nature of the steep sloping site with a height difference of some 80m between Pok Fu Lam Road and Victoria Road. The massive, difficult and expensive site formation work that will be required before any buildings can be erected will require the removal of some 2,000 trees, which will destroy the existing landscape and ecological value of this locality.
Further, there has been a complete disregard of the Pok Fu Lam Moratorium which has been in place since 1972 on traffic grounds, for the purpose of prohibiting excessive development until there is an overall improvement in the transport network in the area. By any measure the proposed 220,000 sq m of development must be considered excessive.