Tagged: Tung Chung
Tung Chung property: Coastal Skyline record, 300% Caribbean Coast gain
The owner of a Caribbean Coast apartment has booked a HK$7.02 million gain and a new Coastal Skyline record has been set as local property prices continue their ascent.
According to Centaline Property, the Caribbean Coast owner bought the high-floor apartment in tower 6 for HK$2.34 million in 2003.
The three-bedroom flat, with a usable area of 894 sq ft, sold last week for HK$9.36 million, or HK$10,470 per sq ft usable area.
A Coastal Skyline apartment sold for HK$7.15 million – the highest ever for a two-bedroom unit in the complex.
The mid-floor unit has a usable area of 592 sq ft and a gross floor area of 775 sq ft, resulting in a price of $12,027 per sq ft usable area.
It last changed hands for HK$3.4 million in December 2010, Economic Times reported.
Hong Kong second-hand apartment prices have risen 25% in the past three years as investors have sought to cash in on the expiry of the special stamp duty.
Govt study proposes ELM road and rail links through northeast Lantau
A government study has proposed building road and railway links to the East Lantau Metropolis (ELM) through northeast Lantau, apparently abandoning an earlier plan to connect through Tung Chung and Mui Wo.
A report for the Civil Engineering and Development Department (CEDD) suggests building a ‘District Line’ railway route from Tuen Mun through northeast Lantau to the ELM and then to Hong Kong Island, HK01 reports.
The logical connecting point on Hong Kong Island would be Kennedy Town, the westernmost station on the Island Line. However, the line may not have the capacity, so the alternative would be to build a new station nearby and passengers interchange on foot.
The report also recommends building a road along a similar route, with discussion about where would be the best place to land it on Hong Kong Island.
East Lantau Metropolis (Source: CEDD)
Neither of the studies examines transport links from Mui Wo or Tung Chung.
This contrasts with the Sustainable Lantau Blueprint, issued in June, which envisaged a railway connection from Tuen Mun to Tung Chung, then south to Mui Wo and onwards to the main part of ELM via Hei Ling Chau.
According to the Sustainable Lantau Office, a unit of CEDD, a study into Lantau’s internal and external transport networks is also underway.
Yet these reports are being undertaken before the major study into the ELM has begun.
With an estimated HK$400 billion price tag, the 1000ha reclamation in the central waters would be the biggest project in Hong Kong history.
The government is seeking $249 million in cash from Legco to conduct a technical feasibility study, but it has made no economic analysis of the ELM and has no plans to do so.
The project, which is not due to be completed until mid-2030s at the earliest, is premised on a Hong Kong population of more than 9 million. However, the government’s own forecast is that the population will peak at 8.22 million in 2043 and then start to decline.
With burglaries up 20%, Lantau police push video surveillance
Burglaries in Lantau are up 20% in the first 11 months of the year, police say, as they promote a video surveillance scheme for local villages.
Lantau District Police Commander Josephine Mak-Lau Wai-mun said the number of criminal cases this year is similar to last year, but burglaries and criminal damage cases have increased from 30 to 49.
Police are now rolling out a scheme called ‘Lantau Eyes’ in which they make use of CCTV owned by villagers to build up an anti-crime network, Apple Daily reports.
Currently nine villages, including Tong Fuk, Lo Wai village in Pui O and Ma Wan San Tsuen in Tung Chung, are taking part in the trial.
CCTV increases the difficulty of making crimes, Lau said. In Sham Shui Po, where she was previously posted, the number of burglaries had fallen by a quarter after introduction of video surveillance.
She said many of Lantau’s 58 villages were in remote locations, while villagers often were not accustomed to locking up at night or when they left their houses.
Mak said the first phase of the scheme would be to make good use of camera already installed by villagers themselves, while police would work with village leaders and rural committees to invest in the equipment.
Said police would have access to the video data only with the consent of the villagers.
Police also would post notices where videos were operating so that member of the public would be aware they were being recorded.
Fan Chi-ping, chairman of the Tung Chung Rural Committee, said it plans to spend $60,000 to $70,000 on video surveillance for its 16 villages.
Across the border, China has deployed AI-equipped 20 million cameras on city streets in the world’s most aggressive video surveillance programme.
CEDD studying light rail link to Tai O
The government is exploring the feasibility of building a light rail to Tai O, part of a wider study into Lantau transport networks.
Development Secretary Michael Wong told reporters yesterday that CEDD had hired a consultant to review Lantau’s internal transport links and its connections to the rest of Hong Kong.
He said the consultant was examining the potential for a light rail along the coastal route from Tung Chung to Tai O.
The seaside village currently has just a single road connection, parts of which are barely wide enough for buses to pass. The journey to Tung Chung takes 45 minutes.
Local rural leaders have repeatedly called for an upgrade of the existing road and for a direct road connection to Tung Chung. The coastal road has been rejected on environmental and heritage grounds.
MTR light rail, Tuen Mun (Wiki Commons)
Transport panel chairman and former Kowloon-Canton Railway chairman Michael Tien last year proposed the idea of a light rail around Tung Chung, the airport and the Macau bridge, arguing it would take just 15 minutes to make the trip.
He told Sing Tao newspaper that in principle he supported extending it to Tai O but was wary of the cost, estimating that his original proposal would cost HK$15 billion.
He said because the light rail runs on overhead lines it has a light environmental footprint.
Wong did not elaborate on what other changes the government would make to Lantau’s transport connections. He said the consultancy would complete its study in 2019.
Photo (top): Sha Lo Wan on Lantau’s north coast
After weekend of bad air, fresh winds forecast to lift Tung Chung haze
After a weekend of bad air, relief for Tung Chung residents may come as early as tonight with the arrival of fresh east or northeasterly winds.
For almost all of the weekend PM2.5 concentrations in Tung Chung and across the city were recorded at the ‘unhealthy’ level by the ACQI air quality index. At that level active everyone, “especially children, should limit outdoor exertion,” ACQI advises.
The Environment Protection Department Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), which has a different methodology, registered slightly lower readings, but still recorded Tung Chung in the ‘high’ zone for much of the weekend.
It warns of “moderate to very high” health risks this afternoon.
A government health warning issued Sunday afternoon explained:
However, the Hong Kong Observatory forecasts moderate east to northeasterly winds, “fresh tonight,” and bringing “one or two rain patches over the coast of Guangdong.”
But it adds that until then pollution levels will remain higher than normal.
At 2pm today Tung Chung’s air rated ‘unhealthy for sensitive groups’ on the ACQI chart.
Two new bus routes to link Tung Chung and airport
With the opening of the HK-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, Tung Chung residents are to get two new bus routes to the airport.
The service, due to start when the bridge opens, will eventually run 24 hours a day, HK01 reports.
New Lantao Bus (NLB) and Citybus have won the tenders to provide service on three new routes between the new border crossing and North Lantau,
NLB will carry passengers on two routes from the new Tung Chung West housing development, through Tung Chung and then to the airport and new border crossing.
Citybus will run between the border and Sunny Bay.
The Tung Chung route will take about 10 minutes, with two to three stops, according to Transport Dept advice to NLB. Fares are yet to be determined.
The company expects it will need 11 to 12 buses to operate on the two routes. In future, it will need to hire an additional 30 drivers to provide a 24-hour service.
Officially, the bridge is still due to open by the end of 2017, but because of a series of delays appears likely to open for traffic some time in 2018.
Injured driver trapped after vehicle mounts Tung Chung footpath
The driver of a seven-seater vehicle was taken to hospital after the car mounted the footpath near the Tung Chung Fire Station and overturned.
The accident, on Shun Tung Rd at 2pm, trapped the driver inside the vehicle.
After being freed by fire services and ambulance staff, the driver was sent to North Lantau Hospital for treatment.
Holden Chow calls on MTR to speed up Tung Chung East station development
Islands District Councillor and DAB vice-chairman Holden Chow has called on the MTR Corp to bring forward the construction of the Tung Chung East station to align with the timetable for building new apartments.
Under the current timetable, the first residents will start moving into the Tung Chung East Development in 2023, but the new MTR station won’t be completed until 2026.
Chow said the construction of the third runway would bring many work opportunities, including for local residents, and the most effective way to ensure they could take advantage of these would be to connect airport island and TC directly.
He said the MTR was studying the idea of adding an extra Tung Chung Line station to connect to the airport and urged the government or the MTR to release their findings, RTHK reports.
Reclamation work on the Tung Chung East project is due to start by the end of the year.
The CEDD plans to build 40,800 apartments in Tung Chung East and another 8,600 in Tung Chung West. It has forecast that Tung Chung East will accommodate an 119,000 people.
Tung Chung development forecasts (Source: Legco Public Works Subcommittee)
N. Lantau water treatment plant to double to meet population growth
The Water Supplies Department says it needs to double the size of its north Lantau water treatment plant to cope with the development of Tung Chung and the airport district.
It proposes boosting the capacity of the Siu Ho Wan Water Treatment Works from 150,000 cubic metres a day to 300,000 cubic metres daily.
The department has not indicated how much the expansion plan will cost, but it will seek funds from the Legislative Council for research and design early next year and then carry out a study, Oriental Daily reports.
Construction is expected to start in 2021 and will be completed in 2025.
As well as expanding the Siu Ho Wan plant, it will install a pipe along South Lantau Road to increase the flow of water from Shek Pik Reservoir, and build a booster station to improve supply from Tai Lam Chung Reservoir. It will also increase the capacity of the Pui Oi pumping station.
Under the Tung Chung extension plan its population is expected to increase from approximately 80,000 today to 268,000 in the mid-2020s.
Visionary sale breaks record as Tung Chung prices resume ascent
A Visionary apartment has sold for a record local price as Tung Chung home prices resume their climb following a brief pause.
The Visionary property, a single bedroom, middle floor flat with a garden view, changed hands for $6.8 million this week. With usable area of 591 sq ft, that amounts to a price of $11,506 per sq ft, a new record high for one-bedroom units in Tung Chung, according to Ming Pao.
The original owner acquired it in December 2013 for $4.9 million, booking a profit of 39% over four years.
Across Hong Kong the market cooled slightly in the third quarter because of uncertainty ahead of the CE’s September policy address, but since then prices have continued upward.
A survey by Oriental Daily of 20 major housing estates found 17 posted price rises in the past month.
In Tung Chung, valuations at Caribbean Coast and Seaview Crescent rose 4.4% and 2.5% respectively.
In two transactions at Caribbean Coast this month, a two-bedroom apartment with usable area of 541 sq ft sold for $5.97 million, or $11,035 per sq ft, while a 494 sq ft flat has just sold for $6.13 million, or $12,409 per sq ft.
A Midland Property manager told the paper that the average per sq ft rate in Tung Chung is now around $10,400, with homes now selling at around $6 million.
A low-floor home in Seaview Crescent, which had fallen to $8.75 million in estimated value in Q3, has risen two months in a row. it is now worth around $9,020,000, 2.5% higher than a month ago.
Eight units changed hands at Tung Chung Crescent last month with an average price of $11,032.
Lantau Confidential 