Tag Archives: China

     The Town Planning Board today (January 8) announced the publication of the draft Pui O Au Development Permission Area (DPA) Plan.

     The draft Pui O Au DPA Plan covers an area of about 8.89 hectares which is located on the southern part of Lantau Island and sandwiched between Lantau South Country Park and South Lantau Road. The Area is characterised by a rural and countryside ambience, consists of natural landscape in the central part with village settlements mainly in the south-western part.

     A spokesman for the Town Planning Board said that the general planning intention is to conserve its landscape and ecological value in safeguarding the natural habitats, to maintain the unique rural and natural character of the Area, and to prevent it from encroachment by unauthorised development and from undesirable change of use.

     Though it is not exceptional in terms of biodiversity or ecological importance, the Area forms an integral part of the natural woodlands system in the adjoining Lantau South Country Park. The Pui O Stream flows through the Area with the lower course, which is the Ecologically Important Stream, outside the Area. There is a need to better protect the natural and landscape character of the Area to avoid disturbing the natural environment. The whole area of the Plan has been designated as “Unspecified Use” pending detailed analysis and studies to establish the appropriate land uses in the course of the preparation of an Outline Zoning Plan (OZP). The DPA Plan will be replaced by an OZP as soon as possible.

     The draft Pui O Au DPA Plan is now available for public inspection during office hours at (i) the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, (ii) the Planning Enquiry Counters of the Planning Department in North Point and Sha Tin, (iii) the Sai Kung and Islands District Planning Office, (iv) the Islands District Office and (v) the South Lantao Rural Committee.

     Any person may make written representations in respect of the draft plan to the Secretary of the Town Planning Board on or before March 8. Any person who intends to make a representation is advised to read the revised Town Planning Board Guidelines No. 29B on “Submission and Publication of Representations, Comments on Representations and Further Representations under the Town Planning Ordinance” (TPB PG-No. 29B) which were promulgated in November 2018 and took effect in 2019.

     Submission of a representation should comply with the requirements set out in TPB PG-No. 29B. In particular, the representer should take note of the following:

* If the representer fails to provide his or her full name and the first four alphanumeric characters of his or her Hong Kong identity card or passport number as required under TPB PG-No. 29B, the representation submitted shall be treated as not having been made; and
* The Secretariat of the Town Planning Board reserves the right to require the representer to provide identity proof for verification.

     The Guidelines and the submission form are available at locations (i) and (ii) above and the Town Planning Board’s website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb).

     Copies of the draft DPA plan are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the plan can be viewed at the Town Planning Board’s website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb). read more

     The Town Planning Board today (January 8) announced the publication of the draft Sha Lo Wan and San Tau Development Permission Area (DPA) Plan.

     The draft Sha Lo Wan and San Tau DPA Plan covers an area of about 155.92 hectares and is located to the west of Tung Chung on the northwestern part of Lantau Island, fronting the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Link Road and Hong Kong International Airport. The area is characterised by a rural ambience which comprises a natural landscape of woodlands, shrublands, grasslands, vegetated slopes and knolls, streams, wetlands and coastal features, with village settlements, fallow and cultivated agricultural land, historic building and temples.

     A spokesman for the Town Planning Board said the general planning intention is to protect the ecologically sensitive areas (including the San Tau Beach Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)), to maintain the unique rural and natural character, landscape value and the cultural heritage of the Area, and to prevent it from encroachment by unauthorised development and from undesirable change of use.

     It is noted that human disturbances in the form of footpath and road widening and slope cutting activities are found in the area, resulting in adverse impacts on the natural environment and rural character of the area. There is therefore an urgent need to prepare a DPA Plan to provide interim planning control with a view to avoiding further proliferation of undesirable uses and degradation of the natural environment and rural character of the area. Owing to the urgency of preparing the DPA Plan, except for the area recognised as the San Tau Beach SSSI of about 1.14 hectares being zoned “Site of Special Scientific Interest”, the remaining area of about 154.78 hectares has been designated “Unspecified Use”, pending detailed analysis and studies to establish the appropriate land uses in the course of preparing an Outline Zoning Plan (OZP). The DPA Plan will be replaced by an OZP as soon as possible.

     The draft Sha Lo Wan and San Tau DPA Plan is now available for public inspection during office hours at (i) the Secretariat of the Town Planning Board, (ii) the Planning Enquiry Counters of the Planning Department in North Point and Sha Tin, (iii) the Sai Kung and Islands District Planning Office, (iv) the Islands District Office and (v) the Tai O Rural Committee.

     Any person may make written representations in respect of the draft plan to the Secretary of the Town Planning Board on or before March 8. Any person who intends to make a representation is advised to read the revised Town Planning Board Guidelines No. 29B on “Submission and Publication of Representations, Comments on Representations and Further Representations under the Town Planning Ordinance” (TPB PG-No. 29B) which were promulgated in November 2018 and took effect in 2019.

     Submission of a representation should comply with the requirements set out in TPB PG-No. 29B. In particular, the representer should take note of the following:

* If the representer fails to provide his or her full name and the first four alphanumeric characters of his or her Hong Kong identity card or passport number as required under TPB PG-No. 29B, the representation submitted shall be treated as not having been made; and
* The Secretariat of the Town Planning Board reserves the right to require the representer to provide identity proof for verification.

     The Guidelines and the submission form are available at locations (i) and (ii) above and the Town Planning Board’s website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb).

     Copies of the draft DPA plan are available for sale at the Map Publications Centres in North Point and Yau Ma Tei. The electronic version of the plan can be viewed at the Town Planning Board’s website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb). read more

     With 11 months warmer than usual, 2020 was the second warmest year for Hong Kong since records began in 1884. The annual mean temperature of 24.4 degrees was 1.1 degrees above the 1981-2010 normal (Note 1). The annual mean maximum temperature of 27.2 degrees and the annual mean minimum temperature of 22.5 degrees were the highest and the second highest on record respectively. In particular, the mean temperature, the mean maximum temperature and the mean minimum temperature for summer from June to August reached 29.6 degrees, 32.6 degrees and 27.7 degrees respectively, all the highest on record. The highest temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory in the year was 35.3 degrees on July 23, one of the joint 12th highest on record. There were 50 Hot Nights (Note 2) and 47 Very Hot Days (Note 3) in Hong Kong in 2020, both the highest on record.
 
     The lowest temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory in the year was 8.1 degrees on December 31. The number of Cold Days (Note 4) in the year was 11 days, which is 6.1 days less than the 1981-2010 normal.
 
     The annual total rainfall in 2020 was 2,395.0 millimetres, similar to the 1981-2010 normal of 2,398.5mm. Eleven red rainstorm warnings and two black rainstorm warnings were issued by the Hong Kong Observatory in the year. The number of days with thunderstorms reported in Hong Kong was 42 days in 2020, about three days more than the 1981-2010 normal.
 
     A total of 25 tropical cyclones occurred over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2020, less than the long-term (1961-2010) average of about 30. There were 11 tropical cyclones reaching typhoon intensity (Note 5) or above during the year, less than the long-term average of about 15, and three of them reached super typhoon intensity (with a maximum 10-minute wind speed of 185 kilometres per hour or above near the centre). In Hong Kong, five tropical cyclones necessitated the issuance of tropical cyclone warning signals, slightly less than the long-term average of about six in a year. The Increasing Gale or Storm Signal No. 9 was issued during the passage of Higos in August, while the No. 8 Gale or Storm Signal was issued during the passage of Nangka in October.
 
     Globally, 2020 is on track to be one of the three warmest years on record according to the World Meteorological Organization’s preliminary assessment. Over the Arctic, the sea-ice extents for July and October 2020 were the lowest on record for the respective months and the annual minimum in September was also the second lowest. In 2020, various extreme weather events continued to wreak havoc in different parts of the world, including heatwaves in Australia, the Caribbean region, Mexico, South America, western Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, Japan and Siberia; extreme cold events in North America and the southern part of South America; severe drought in the interior of South America, northern part of Central Europe and parts of southern Africa; extreme rainfall which triggered severe flooding in large parts of Africa, South Asia, China, the Korean Peninsula, Vietnam and parts of western Japan; and severe damage and heavy casualties brought about by tropical cyclones in the United States, the Caribbean region, Central America, India, Bangladesh, Fiji, Vanuatu, the Philippines, the Korean Peninsula, western Japan and Vietnam. Exacerbated by widespread drought and high temperature, destructive wildfires ravaged California and Colorado of the United States, northern Siberia, eastern Australia and western Brazil.
 
     A weak El Niño event was established in April 2020. Sea surface temperatures of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific dropped rapidly afterwards, but they returned to normal in May. The cooling trend continued into the second half of the year. Sea surface temperatures of the central and eastern equatorial Pacific dropped to below normal in September and remained colder than normal till the end of the year, indicating the development of a La Niña event.
 
     Detailed description of the local weather for individual months is available on the Monthly Weather Summary webpage:
www.weather.gov.hk/en/wxinfo/pastwx/mws/mws.htm. A detailed version of the year’s weather for 2020 with some significant weather events in Hong Kong is available at:
www.weather.gov.hk/en/wxinfo/pastwx/ywx.htm.

Note 1: Climatological normals for the reference periods of 1961-1990, 1971-2000 and 1981-2010 are available at www.weather.gov.hk/en/cis/normal.htm. Climatological normals of 1981-2010 are referenced in the text unless otherwise specified.
Note 2: “Hot Night” refers to the condition with the daily minimum temperature equal to or higher than 28.0 degrees.
Note 3: “Very Hot Day” refers to the condition with the daily maximum temperature equal to or higher than 33.0 degrees.
Note 4: “Cold Day” refers to the condition with the daily minimum temperature equal to or lower than 12.0 degrees.
Note 5: Information on the classification of tropical cyclones is available at: www.weather.gov.hk/en/informtc/class.htm. read more

     The effective exchange rate index for the Hong Kong dollar on Friday, January 8, 2021 is 100.5 (up 0.3 against yesterday’s index). read more

     The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (January 8) announced that the department collected 12 liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) samples from auto-LPG filling stations and LPG terminals on a random basis in December 2020 for laboratory tests. The results show that the LPG quality of all these samples complied with auto-LPG specifications.
 
     The detailed test results are available on the EMSD’s website (www.emsd.gov.hk/en/rl/lpg_sample_analysis_simple). Enquiries can also be made to the EMSD’s hotline on 2333 3762.
 
     In addition, the EMSD has been vetting independent third-party test reports submitted by LPG supply companies for each shipment to ensure that the quality of imported LPG complies with the specified requirements. read more