Food & Health Bureau alone in supporting the converting plan

The Town Planning Board on Friday rejected Hong Kong's first application to convert an industrial building in Kwai Chung into a four-story columbarium. The plan initially had been greeted by fierce opposition from the public and the government.

The Board noted that alongside 679 statements of opposition received by the planning department from the public, several government departments also opposed the application.

The principal concern of the Planning Department was that the proposed site, an industrial building at 14-15 Yip Shing Street, sits only 170 meters from Sheck Lei public housing estate. The board also stipulated that the plan did not conform to zoning regulations for the usage of neighboring land.

The plan was also challenged on grounds of poor transportation access. The street where the building is located is a not a through road and is accessible only from Castle Peak Road. The Transport Department said petitioners for the plan failed to conduct a transportation evaluation.

Police said the location of a columbarium at the site posed a potential traffic control problem. The police assessment noted there are only 32 parking places at the building. The building is not readily accessible by public transport. The nearest bus stop is at least ten minutes walk away.

Police also expressed concerns for public safety, citing the location as an industrial area with frequent heavy-truck traffic.

The applicant argued that Traffic Diversion would be arranged during Ching Ming and Double Ninth Festivals.

Trade and Industry Department said the plan would force a change in zoning, with the resultant loss of 40,000 square meters of industrial land.

The Environmental Protection Department had questioned the applicant's promise to ban the practice during memorial rituals of burning paper offerings, which generate pollutants such as black soot.

The only support came from the Food and Health Bureau. It stated that the application was in line with the Columbarium Policy and would meet the city's acute need for ash niches.

The Bureau issued a consultation paper in July, in which it proposed converting industrial buildings into columbarium facilities. The paper encouraged owners of potential industrial buildings to seek planning approval from the Twon Planning Board and to modify the land lease conditions for this purpose.

Kwai Tsing district councilor Wong Bing-kuen expressed dissatisfaction over what he labeled the "blind support" from the Food and Health Bureau.

He indicated the Bureau has yet to provide a licensing system to regulate private columbariums, many of which are suspected of operating illegally. In the absence of effective regulation, supporting a new application would be "pouring oil over the flames", he said.

The plan proposed to provide 43,500 ash niches, generating rentals of HK$10,000 each over a period from 2011 to 2047. The applicant refused to disclose further details of the operation.

Wong indicated that the plan would bring the owner of the building revenue of HK$400 million, while the building was sold at just over HK$40 million.

China Daily

(HK Edition 11/27/2010 page1)