Dragages Hong Kong Limited, China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, VSL Hong Kong Limited, Hin Sum Construction Company Limited, Super Engineering (HK) Limited and Hin Sum Manpower Company Limited were fined $82,000, $82,000, $82,000, $20,000, $20,000 and $40,000 respectively at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today (October 16) for violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance and the Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Management) Regulation. The prosecutions were launched by the Labour Department.
      
     The case involved a fatal accident that occurred on October 27, 2015 at a construction site of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Hong Kong Link Road. A worker, whilst assisting the lifting of a metal case on the loading platform of a lorry-mounted crane, was trapped between the metal cage and the vertical metal frame behind the driving cabin of the crane. He subsequently passed away.

     "Tree of Codes", a boundary-crossing creative work that brings together the talents of multi-award-winning choreographer Wayne McGregor, musician Jamie xx and visual artist Olafur Eliasson, will open the New Vision Arts Festival (NVAF) on October 19. Making its Asia premiere in Hong Kong, "Tree of Codes" is a groundbreaking production that combines literature, sculpture, architecture and spatial design with performance.
 
     "Tree of Codes", taking inspiration from the novel of the same name by American author Jonathan Safran Foer, is performed by dancers from the UK-based Company Wayne McGregor and guest artists. It was first staged as part of the Manchester International Festival in 2015 and has gone on to receive rave views wherever it has been presented.
 
     In creating the intriguing book, Jonathan Safran Foer literally carved out words from Bruno Schulz's "The Street of Crocodiles" – a collection of short stories published in the 1930s – to produce a "sculpted book" with a fresh story to tell. Wayne McGregor, the British director and choreographer of the show, has added a stunning twist to the tale with an immersive reinvention in movement that tests the physical limits of the performers.
 
     The stage design by Olafur Eliasson uses intricate sets of reflective, transparent and refractive surfaces and coloured light to create a dynamic, ever-evolving and complexly layered space in which the dancers are multiplied and overlap, while Jamie xx employs a tailor-made surround-sound system to create uncharted sonic realms, offering audience members an extraordinary dance performance with eye-catching visuals.
 
     Wayne McGregor is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor in London, which encompasses his extensive creative collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He is also the Resident Choreographer at the Royal Ballet, where his productions are acclaimed for daring reconfiguring of classical language.
 
     Jamie xx is a British composer, music producer and remix artist and is also one of three members of The xx, whose self-titled debut album won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. He has toured widely, both as a member of The xx and a solo artist.
 
     Olafur Eliasson is a renowned visual artist who works in a wide range of media from installation, painting and sculpture to photography and film.
 
     "Tree of Codes" is the opening programme of the NVAF. It will be held at 8pm on October 19 and 20 and at 3pm on October 21 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre. Tickets priced at $180, $280, $380, $480 and $580 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999.
 
     Organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the biennial NVAF, celebrating its ninth edition this year, will be held from October 19 to November 18. For programme enquiries and discount schemes, please call 2370 1044 or visit www.newvisionfestival.gov.hk.
 

          

     The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, today (October 16) attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers' Retreat in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

     The focus of this year's Retreat is on effective public finance strategies that support inclusive growth, in particular the role of public financial management, good governance and investment in productivity-enhancing reform. Finance ministers and other participants attending the meeting shared their own experience.
      
     Tomorrow (October 17), Mr Chan will participate in various sessions of the APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting.

    

     Three recycling sites in North District and Yuen Long in the New Territories, namely Shengji Industrial Trading Limited, EDM HK Recycling Company Limited and World Trinity International Environmental Limited, as well as Unique Industrial (HK) Limited at Fo Tan Industrial Area, were all involved in illegally storing hazardous electronic waste (e-waste). They were convicted and fined a total of $74,000 at the Fanling Magistrates' Courts on October 9 and today (October 16) for contravening the Waste Disposal Ordinance (WDO) and the Waste Disposal (Chemical Waste) (General) Regulation.

     An Environmental Protection Department (EPD) spokesman said that EPD enforcement officers conducted a joint blitz operation this March and raided three recycling sites in the New Territories that illegally stored waste printed circuit boards (PCBs) and waste lead-acid batteries (WLABs), which are classified as chemical waste. A large amount of waste PCBs was found illegally stored in open space or scattered inside plastic and paper boxes without lids, and the toxic chemicals and heavy metals they contained may have caused pollution to the nearby environment. A total of over 60 bags of waste PCBs (with a total weight of about 18 tonnes) and 70 WLABs were intercepted during the operation with a total market value of around $1.8 million.

     In addition, during a blitz operation this April, EPD officers found about half a tonne of waste PCBs and waste LCD monitors, which are classified as e-waste, illegally stored in a unit in Goldfield Industrial Centre, Fo Tan, and intercepted dismantled waste electronic products. The company, which claimed to be involved in electronics parts trading, had not registered with the EPD as a chemical waste producer. According to records, the company was convicted and fined $60,000 by the Fanling Magistrates' Courts on December 16, 2016, for contravening the WDO by illegally importing large quantities of hazardous e-waste.

     After investigations and evidence gathering, the EPD initiated prosecutions against the four companies concerned in accordance with the Regulation.

     The spokesman stressed that dismantled or destroyed PCBs, LCD monitors and cathode ray tubes are hazardous e-waste containing heavy metals and other toxic substances, while WLABs contain lead, lead compounds and sulphuric acid, and are classified as chemical waste. If not properly controlled, they will pollute the environment and pose a risk to the health of relevant trade practitioners and the general public. The EPD has all along been committed to combating the illegal collection, storage, handling and import and export activities of hazardous e-waste. Anyone who violates the above laws shall be liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and six months' imprisonment for the first conviction. For subsequent offences, offenders are liable to a maximum fine of $500,000 and two years' imprisonment.

     Members of the public may visit the EPD's website for more information about the control of chemical waste: www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_cwc.html.

    

     The Lands Department today (October 16) announced that the Government had rejected all the five tenders received for the purchase of Rural Building Lot No. 1211 at Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 11 Mansfield Road, the Peak, Hong Kong, after the tender closed on October 12, for the reason that the tendered premiums did not meet the Government's reserve price for the site.

     The disposal of sites in the Government's Land Sale Programmes in the open market follows an established mechanism. The Government will not sell a site if no bid reaches the reserve price as assessed by the Government's professional valuers.

     The tenderers in alphabetical order, with the name of the parent company where provided by the tenderers in brackets, were:
 
(1) Channel First Limited (Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited)
(2) Excellent Direction Limited (The Wharf (Holdings) Limited, New World Development Company Limited, Nan Fung Development Holdings Limited, Chime Corporation Limited, Sino Land Company Limited and China Overseas Land & Investment Limited)
(3) Great Rainbow Investments Limited (CK Asset Holdings Limited)
(4) Juliyam Limited (Henderson Land Development Company Limited)
(5) Tin Wah International Limited (K. Wah International Holdings Limited)

     It is the Government's policy objective to provide a steady and sustained land supply to the market to cater for the community's demand for housing, commercial and business sites. This objective will not be affected by the results of an individual tender exercise. The Government will consider disposal arrangements for this Mansfield Road site at an appropriate time.

     The Government will not speculate on the reasons accounting for the bids placed by tenderers. In practice, the bids put forward depend on a myriad of factors, such as attractiveness of the individual site to the individual tenderers, as well as how the individual tenderers consider the market conditions, their respective corporate positions and development strategies.

     Rural Building Lot No. 1211 has a site area of about 17,598 square metres and is designated for private residential purposes. The minimum gross floor area and the maximum gross floor area are 22,537 square metres and 37,561 square metres respectively. The maximum gross floor area is subject to Special Condition No. (9)(b)(ii)(II) in the Conditions of Sale.

     For background information, in recent years four tender exercises for government land sales had to be cancelled due to the bids falling below the reserve prices. Other than the Peak site, the three other cancelled tender exercises involved sites in Yuen Long, Tsing Yi and Pak Shek Kok, which were put to tender in early 2016, late 2015 and early 2014 respectively. All three sites were subsequently successfully re-tendered.