HONG KONG: Queen's Pier will not be reassembled in its original location despite strong demands by conservationists.

Secretary for Development Carrie Lam told the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee yesterday that the pier will be reassembled between Central Piers number 9 and 10 instead of its original location that formed a cluster with City Hall and Edinburgh Place.

The pier, originally constructed in 1954, was closed in 2007 to facilitate land reclamation soon after the adjacent Star Ferry pier was closed.

The closure of Queen's Pier sparked fierce opposition. Conservationists called the site a historical landmark and carried their campaign into the pier, camping inside in a bid to preserve it. On August 1, 2007, police evicted 30 protesters.

The pier was demolished last February but the government said that it would be re-assembled.

The Harbourfront Enhancement Committee said the pier should be re-assembled in the original location, a practice in line with international preservation practices.

But Lam said reassembling the pier between Central Piers 9 and 10 will make it possible to make use of Queen's Pier once again. If the pier is reassembled in its original location it will no longer be functional. Following land reclamation, the original location is no longer on the shoreline.

Lam said 16 district councils suggested the pier be reassembled along the harbourfront.

About 49 percent of 1,872 comment cards received for a study conducted by the Polytechnic University also suggested the pier be reassembled along the harbourfront while 58 percent of 365 people interviewed face-to-face shared the same preference.

Lam said reassembling Queen's Pier along the harbourfront will cost HK$220 million and the project will be completed in 2013, one year earlier than reassembling it in the original location.

What's more, Lam said, reassembling it along the harbourfront area will not affect the alignment for a new road network. Realigning the road network would include abortive costs of HK$30 million, according to the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee.

The consultation for the new Central harbourfront has been ongoing for two years and the government cannot accept further delays, Lam added.

Ng Mee-kam, a member of the Harbourfront Enhancement Committee, said she is disappointed.

"The pier should not be removed," she said.

Ng also said the pier had also been a leisure area for the public and has special meaning for Hong Kong residents.

Conservationist Chu Hoi-dick, who camped inside the pier in 2007, said the government decision is unacceptable.

"We are talking about the preservation of historical architecture. We are not talking about building a pier," he said. "What the government has decided is contradictory to the principle of preservation."

Meanwhile, the government also decided that the clock tower of the old Star Ferry pier will be re-constructed in its original location and the development density of hotel and office projects outside International Financial Centre 2 will be reduced.

(HK Edition 08/18/2009 page1)