Hong Kong Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho told lawmakers
on Wednesday the government is formulating the strategy and
proposed improvement measures for cultural heritage conservation
and will take into account the views collected from the public
consultation.
He said at a Legislative Council meeting that the government
will form a holistic approach that enables Hong Kong to take a
comprehensive view on what, and how many, heritage items to
conserve.
Ho said proposed improvements include: innovative and
sustainable adaptive re-use of conserved built heritage, better
coordination of heritage conservation work, formulation of
assessment criteria, different methods of conservation, and
strategy for enhancing community participation.
He said the proposed improvements also include the strengthening
of heritage education and introduction of appropriate planning
tools and economic incentives to encourage private property owners
to conserve built heritage.
"Since the improvement measures involve land use and town
planning, ownership and development rights of private properties,
and deployment of public resources, we need considerable time to
assess the feasibility of different measures and sort out the
implementation details and seek legal advice as necessary," Ho
said.
"We hope to complete the work as soon as possible on the
proposed improvement measures for consultation with the Legislative
Council, the concerned parties and the public as appropriate."
(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2006)
