May 2003

Message from K. S. So, President of 2001/02

My session as President of the Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong has been a very precious experience for me. All Rotarians in our Club have been very tolerant to my inexperienced leadership, sometimes clumsy but otherwise members were amused. However, we acted as a team and we strived to complete a few meaningful projects. The project we jointly ventured with World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong at Mai Po is worth to being highlighted.

In order to keep a record for future reference, the Mai Po Project 2002/03 is outlined below.

Project: Rotary Community Project 2001 – 2002 Upgrading and Enlargement of World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong Mai Po Visitors Centre, Hong Kong Special Administration Region.

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Our partner, the World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong (WWF) is a voluntary organization whose prime objectives are to conserve the natural habitat of Hong Kong and to provide environmental education for students and the general public.

1.2 One of WWF’s major activities is to preserve the wetlands at Mai Po, situated at the North-west of Hong Kong having a common border with the Mainland, which is the natural habitat of migrating birds.

1.3 WWF operates a Residential Centre at Mai Po, which consists of accommodation units and a Visitors Centre, besides other facilities.

1.4 With an area of 27 square metres, the Visitors Centre has been serving as a rendezvous for visitors to receive briefing before they visit the wetlands in guided tours since 1990.

Our contribution was to expand and upgrade its facilities to cope with the increasing demand of the public.

2.0 Objectives of the Project

2.1 The project was aimed at expanding the size of the existing Visitors Centre and improving the facilities so that up-to-date equipment like audio-video, and public announcement equipment could be installed in the Visitors Centre.

2.2 It was also aimed at improving the image of the Visitors Centre by applying more modern finishes to it in this exercise.

3.0 Contribution of the Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong

3.1 The CNHK had undertaken to provide services as listed below, while the actual cost of construction work amounting to HK$ 1,000,000.00 was contributed separately by a member of WWF. The CNHK has contributed a total of 280 man-hours on this project.

3.1.1 Esthetic design, architectural design, structural design, landscape design as well as interior design.

3.1.2 Quantity surveying services including the preparation of tender and contract documents were provided.

3.1.3 Acted as project co-ordinator as well as project management.

3.1.4 Dealt with proper procedures and the requirements of local building control.

3.1.5 Supervision of construction works and monitoring of the progress and quality of works.

3.1.6 Legal opinions in looking after the agreement between the appointed contractors and the Client.

3.2 Contribution by Members of CNHK.

3.2.1 Thirteen out of a total number of twenty-five members of CNHK had actively taken part in providing the services described at para. 3.1 above. The following Members took part in the Project.

President:	K S So	Providing Design and Supervision
President Elect:	Dennis Wong	Member of Design Team
Vice President:	Chan, Tak Ling	Member of Design Team
Community Services Chairman:	Boris Wong	Member of Monitoring Team
International Services Chairman:	Perry Yu	Member of Supervision Team
Programme Chairman:	Lei, Kai Ping	Acted as Project Coordinator
Past President:	Johnny Fan	Member of Coordinating Team
Past President:	James Lau	Member of Coordinating Team
Members:	Jackie Fung	Member of Monitoring Team
	Lau, Kwok Kit	Member of Monitoring Team
	Geoffrey Lung	Member of Supervision Team
	Stephen Lai	Providing Quantity Surveying Services
	Simon Yung	Providing Legal Opinion

3.2.2 Besides personal involvements of its members, CNHK has contributed HK$64,000.00 towards the project and a professional fee amounting to HK$200,000.00 which was donated by one of its members.

4.0 The Achievements

4.1 The pressing need of preserving the natural habitat of migrating birds at Mai Po has been addressed to through this project.

4.2 As many as 13 members participated in person in the project (out of a total membership of 25). They provided designs, quantity surveying, supervision, and project management works throughout the course of developing the project.

4.3 The project started in its conceptual stage in July 2001. As many as 15 meetings and 19 inspections had been carried out. The project was completed in October 2002.

4.4 A permanent plaque to announce the involvement and contribution of the Rotary Club of City Northwest Hong Kong was placed inside the New Visitors Centre.

4.5 The opening ceremony on 26 October 2002 was announced in World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong’s quarterly journal ‘WWF About Life’ and covered by a major local newspaper ‘Apple Daily’, which has an average daily circulation of 380,000.

4.6 It is understood from WWF that since the opening of the new Visitors Centre on 26 October 2002, a total of 150 groups of interested parties have visited the Mai Po wetlands, in WWF’s guided tours. The accumulated number of participants has amounted to 15,000. About one-quarter were students and one-twentieth were keen bird-watchers or environmental preservationists or researchers from other parts of the world.

Tour of WWF Hong Kong Mai Po and Planning of Visitors Centre Project 14 July 2001

WWF Hong Kong Mai Po Visitor Centre Opening 26 October 2002

Home | What's New | Current Year Activities | Special Projects | President's Corner

This page last updated 15 May 2003. Send email to webmaster perry@pobox.com.