0		green, renewable power sources

An effort is underway to comply a government target of generating 1 to 2 per cent of energy from renewable sources. Hongkong Electric, Hong Kong island’s power supplier has outlined a project that will erect up to 35 giant wind-powered energy generators – each as tall as a 27-storey building – to move towards adopting renewable sources.

The HK$3 billion project will take place offshore, southwest of Lamma island. After the project is finished in 2015, it is expected to generate about 100 megawatts, enough to provide electricity to 50,000 households for a year. Equally important is that this power output is also equivalent to between 1 to 2 per cent of the total annual energy production, the same ratio as the government’s target set in 2005.

Each of the 28 to 35 turbine will be capable of producing 2.3 to 3.5 megawatts of power. The whole set of turbines will be constructed within a 600 hectare area located southwest of Lamma island.

Assuming plans are on target, the utilizing wind power could reduce the dependence of coal where Hongkong Electric uses 62,000 tons and hopefully reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide.

CLP Power, the power supplier in Kowloon and New Territories, recently won a government approval to open a wind farm, said to be the biggest in Asia. CLP’s farm, costing HK$6.7 billion will be located at Clearwater Bay peninsula.  Such plan is a much desired move to turn things around after CLP’s dubious reputation as one of the worst pollutants in the past. It’s also a good follow up to its previous initiatives to support green cars in the city.

But as good as these projects may appear, they’re not free of skeptics and critics. Does it really cost HK$3 billion to produce just 2 per cent of Hongkong Electric’s total energy production? Do these projects put Hong Kong a role model in exploring renewable energy or simply because its enterprises can afford mega-billion projects? Do these projects inspire others follow or just because they’re already there makes everyone else think “that should do it”?

	0	5	wealth, economy, property

Buoyed by mainland China investments and recovering world economy, Hong Kong’s 40 richest people boast a combined fortune of US$135 billion or a shade over HK$1 trillion dollar last year, according to an article recently published by Forbes Asia.

Although the aggregate amount is still below the record US$179 billion combined wealth they amassed in 2008, the latest release is a reason enough for celebration. In fact, with such amount of money, these members of the exclusive billionaires club can finance 16 HK$65 billion Express Rail Link lines, a controversial project that caused uproar among critics partly because  the railway project was outrageously expensive for its purpose.

Property is the main business of these wealthy men. Li Ka-shing of Cheung Kong Holdings topped the list again with $21.3 billion and could catapult him to within top ten in the world. Lee Shau-kee of Henderson Land leapfrogged in the rankings from third to second after a fruitful year in the market. Henderson Land developed the most expensive apartment in the world – at 39 Conduit Road – for $57 million. The men Lee outranked: the Kwok brothers of Sun Hung Kai Properties, of ifc mall and ICC, soon the tallest building in the city.

It seems that the rich keeps getting richer and everyone else gets poorer. Or maybe the study was made at a time when the economy was recovering and compared against a period of uncertainty. Compared to a year ago, Hong Kong’s richest folks were 65 per cent richer. If you combine the top 40 richest people in every territory, Hong Kong’s representatives are the richest, followed by mainland China’s and the Japanese.

On the very other end of the line, we see other Hong Kong people living in cages, and that simply illustrates the very wide wealth disparity among the city’s residents.

The compilation may be subject to various factors such as fluctuating stock prices, property levels, among others.

	0	2	newsmakers

Barman-turned-feng shui expert Tony Chan has lost the court battle for the estate of the late Nina Wang. The foundation set up by the family of Wang, one of the world’s richest women, has been ruled the rightful claimant of her estate.

The battle between the family of Wang, also known as Little Sweetie, and Tony Chan, her feng shui master and allegedly her lover, began right after Wang died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 69. Chan insisted that as a confidante for years, he deserves the estate worth but the Chinachem Charitable Foundation of the Wang family obviously doesn’t think so. The tug-of-war for the riches dragged itself to the courts, attracting the media and fascinating the locals.

Wang’s fortune was estimated at around US$6.4 billion to US$13 billion by local Hong Kong media, higher than the figures released by Forbes in 2007. Two competing wills – one held by Chan and another by Chinachem – highlighted the court-room face-off. In addition to the will allegedly bestowing the treasures to Tony Chan, the feng shui expert also claimed he had an intimate relationship with Nina Wang, who is 20 years older than him.

Now that the verdict has thrown out Chan’s claim over the tycoon’s billions after ruling that the will he presented was forged, what are his next steps?

1. Quite certainly, his lawyers have expressed intention to appeal the decision, but that might just be the last straw of hope that remains in achieving the billions of dollars.

2. Will he continue to practice feng shui and advise people what to do and expect in the upcoming year of the tiger? Once successful, then he’ll feel vindicated on the claims that he made up his career in geomancy and find ways to end up laughing his way to the bank. Or maybe turn his fortunes around once in a while?

3. Will he continue to call his son Wealthee, now that he failed to catapult himself into the ranks occupied by Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Li Ka-shing?

4. Will the call to be more prudent and the simple life be too hard to resist that he can now live off with his current financial earnings without the pressure and criticism as well as the probing eyes of the media? That means returning to his bar job and living more peacefully?

	1	8	sale, discounts,

Hong Kong is a shopper’s paradise. There are plenty of products to choose from at prices lower than in many cities. Such fame also means there are plenty of shops competing for customers – 7 million locals and thousands of daily visitors – for attention. That spawned the idea of different forms of “Sale” promotions. As a non-shopaholic, here are my interpretations of these “Sale” offers, a common sight I see in women’s fashion shops.

SALE
This is a sample sign posted at the glass window attracting passersby that a sale is going on. While curious shoppers think this sign means there’s actually a discount, many shops simply put it to convey a message outdoors that they are selling something, amidst the piles of decors that camouflage their merchandise.

SEASONAL SALE
This is the label that appears arbitrarily regardless whether its summer, spring or winter. To many shops this means it’s their season to make special offer. Whether this is ushered by a new stock of new arrivals or simply a means to make passers by’s heads turn, this label needs to show up sooner or later.

FURTHER REDUCTION
This usually happens in the summer months where a series of “Sale” promotions are up for posting in an effort to convince customers these sale items are genuine. During the first weeks of summer the first appearance of special offer treats gets noticed, but doesn’t attract veteran shoppers. Knowing that discounts could get bigger, they cautiously wait for “Further Reduction” sign hoping their desired models and fits are still available.

FINAL SALE
For those who are willing to gamble product availability with guaranteed lowest price, this is the sign they await. “Final Sale” labels often show up during the last few weeks of summer or any other season. In some cases, there’s plenty for everyone. In others, being unhappy with what was left in the shelf is a sign that one has lost the gamble.

INVENTORY SALE
Inventory Sale is intended to attract shoppers who will get the impression that everything must go to clear the inventory and make way for a shipment of new products. There is no argument if the purpose is intended the way it should be. Otherwise, it’s another ploy to reinvent the “Sale” label.

RENOVATION SALE
For a shop that needs to redesign itself to conform to a rebranding exercise or a new marketing approach, it’s hard to ignore the fact that products need to go at all costs. But somehow, we ask, “Why so? Shops can restock their shelves with old products, right?”

REMOVAL SALE
If all marketing initiatives have been exhausted, from online coupons to magazine stubs, word of mouth to leaftlet distribution in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay, and still sales are disappointing, this could mean, among other things, your products suck or your location is bad so you need to leave the area or leave the business for good. And that means bonanza for shoppers who'll find real deals as the shop operations wind down.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lionelbodilis/

	0		health, hospitals, Hong Kong, News, Asia, nurses,

There is clear evidence as to why there are a number of medical blunders happening in Hong Kong. The nurse-to-patient ratio is just so high that one senior nurse serve 25 to 30 patients while the global standard is only pegged at four to six. The Hospital Authority admits each of its nurses cared for 10 to 12 patients on average. As if my trust in local doctors hasn't reached rock-bottom.

Hospital Authority oversees Hong Kong’s public hospitals and funded by the government. The authority admits a shortage of 600 nurses but has planned to spend an extra HK$100 million to hire 800 nurses this year, including 300 new positions. However, one problem the authority faces is that a considerable portion of its nurses leave their posts in favor of more lucrative offers from the private sector which pays at least HK$5,000 higher than their counterparts in the government service.

There is no problem with supply as more than 1,100 nurses will be available for recruitment in 2010-11 and 1,500 will be available the year after. Sounds like the acute shortage will be addressed but number doesn’t necessarily mean good quality service. If any, a continuous exodus of nurses towards higher paying jobs not only will exacerbate the problem and the government will end up spending more. Hong Kong hospitals could be primed for another round of embarrassing miscues, wrong medications and patient switches.

How's that as an inspiration for the city to become a hospital hub.

	0	1	police, crime

When we describe police brutality, it’s often an ugly scenario where a helpless crime suspect gets outnumbered, subdued and badly beaten by police officers. But it’s also possible that that an outnumbered suspect – a woman – is actually the one harassing authorities.

That’s what happened when a 33-year-old niece of a Hong Kong judge defied orders and even slapped an enforcing officer after a car she was driving collided head-on with a tour bus in Happy Valley.

Amina Mariam Bokhary was driving along Stubbs Road when her car met with the accident. According to police investigation, her car crossed into the opposite lane and collided with the bus in a junction. Police officers and medical staff were quick to proceed in the area. Initially Bokhary, who didn’t appear injured, sat on a stretcher buckled but asked that she be unbuckled and quickly left the stretcher. She returned to the back seat of her smashed Nissan Infinity and was approached by a police officer asking her to undergo a breathalyzer test. At the time, I guess the police officer asked her in Cantonese, a language she alleges she doesn’t understand.

“I don’t understand what you are saying,” she said as she hit the police record in defiance of the order, left the car and continued “I don’t care. I need to leave”. As she walked away from the inquiring officer, she was cornered by another between a fire engine and foot of a hill. Probably irritated by the people around her, Bokhary slapped the officer, who grimaced in apparent pain.

At this stage Bokhary was handcuffed and taken to a police station.  She was freed on a HK$5,000 bail, and was asked to report to the police next month.

Maybe we’ll all wonder where this woman summoned the strength to act “disrespectfully”, as many would describe her midnight rage in Stubbs Road. She is the niece of Justice Kamal Bokhary of the Court of Final Appeal. While I didn’t read the news saying he did some name dropping, her confidence in doing such act might have been influenced by her status in the society. But digging deeper into the cause of her madness revealed that she was already convicted for similar offense in the past.

In 2002, Bokhary, who suffers a bipolar depressive disorder, was fined HK$9,000 for assaulting a policeman and damaging a spotlight outside a bar in Central. In 2008, she was sentenced to a maximum of 240 hours of community service for assaulting a policewoman and a taxi driver. So the incident was sort of a repetition of a past offense, only this time, it’s not only her reputation got smashed, her car as well.

The term police brutality is probably too strong to describe this incident, but maybe that’s because the police uncharacteristically was on the other end of a nasty confrontation.

Incidentally, the case wasn’t the only “police brutality” happening that night. A separate incident involving a drunk 29-year old woman assaulting a police officer was reported. The woman was also released on bail but will appear in court soon.

For a video of the incident, check out this YouTube post.