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Thursday, July 27, 2017, 18:43
K Wah hands quarry over for development
By Millie Chan Kam-lee
Thursday, July 27, 2017, 18:43 By Millie Chan Kam-lee

Dr Lui Che-woo, Chairman of K. Wah Group delivers a speech in Hong Kong on July 26, 2017. (Photo provided to China Daily)

K Wah Construction Materials held a ceremony to officially hand the Anderson Road Quarry over to the Hong Kong government on Wednesday, ending more than half a century of commercial excavation and operation work at the site.

The quarry has been transformed into a multi-purpose land tract with more than 40 hectares available for development, according to the “Rehabilitation of Anderson Road Quarry” agreement signed between K Wah and the Civil Engineering and Development Department in 1997. 

“The site aims to build around 10,000 housing units for a planned 25,000 population,” K Wah said. Nearly 230,000  trees were planted; a 200-meter long stairway was built in a major slope and more than 10 kilometers of drains were laid on the site. 

K Wah won the site’s quarrying rights in 1964, the first private enterprise to win a quarrying license in Hong Kong. The quarry supplied 100 million tons of rock over the next 53 years, one-third of the construction material used in Hong Kong, K Wah said.

“After the closure of Anderson Road Quarry, Lam Tei Quarry is now the last quarry in Hong Kong, which is expected to operate till around 2022,” said Lam Sai-hung, director of Civil Engineering and Development and commissioner of mines, said at the handover ceremony. “To avoid over-relying on construction material imports, we should develop a new quarry.”

K Wah Group Chairman Dr Lui Che-woo said: “We are looking forward to support the government in promoting the operation and development of quarry sites.” 

Lui said Hong Kong still needed a large supply of construction materials for infrastructure projects, such as development of Lantau Island and the North East New Territories, and construction of the third runway at Hong Kong International Airport. “If we fully rely on import supply, it will not only increase the cost, but also encounter unstable supply and environmental problems due to lengthy transportation,” he said. 

The chairman believes industries, including the construction industry, still have a role to play in Hong Kong, as long as they maintain their capabilities.

K Wah has run the Huidong Quarry in Guangdong for six years, producing 4.3 million tons of aggregates a year. All production is supplied to Hong Kong.

The enterprise said it was looking forward to participating in infrastructure in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, including projects arising from the One Belt, One Road Initiative and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Big Bay Area.

The company also said it will bid for the Anderson Road Quarry site, even if the land premium fluctuated.


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