The Queen's Pier in Central was classified as a grade one historic building by the Antiquities Advisory Board yesterday.

The board chairman, Edward Ho Sing-tin said the grade one classification meant that efforts should be made to preserve the pier and it was ideal for the pier to be re-assembled in its original location after the Central reclamation project, which the government said was technically not feasible.

The board made the decision after 12 out of 25 members voted for grade one classification after a two-hour open meeting the first one held and a public hearing.

There was applause from the public gallery when the voting result was announced.

"It will be the best if the pier remains in its original location without alteration. Every possible efforts should be made to achieve that. If the government cannot make that, it should explain the reasons to the public," Ho said.

Ho said the board would discuss the grading of the City Hall and the Edinburgh Place.

The government had earlier released four options about handling the Queen's Pier, which would be dismantled during reclamation for road network. It said conservationists' demand to keep the pier in its original location was technically not feasible. He suggested that it be reassembled in close proximity to the original ones or other appropriate locations to be specified.

Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung said the grade one classification did not mean the pier should remain intact.

He said the pier should be dismantled before deciding the reassembling solution.

Suen said there were many options to reassemble the pier.

Officials had said in an earlier Legislative Council meeting that the pier would be kept in the existing location if the public had strong view of it, and the road network would be re-aligned.

Esther Leung Yuet-yin, deputy secretary for the Home Affairs Bureau which oversees historical monuments, said the government could still dismantle the pier even if it was classified as grade one.

"All of the four options released earlier are really intended to preserve the Queen's Pier. They are not intended to demolish and take away the pier at all. So all of them would be compatible with the grade one heritage classification," she said.

Leung said the government had no plan to declare the pier as monuments, of which alterations were prohibited.

Leisure and Cultural Services Department assistant director Louis Ng Chi-wa cited an example that a Tin Hau Temple in Chap Lap Kok was moved to Tung Chung in 1999 for the airport project even though it was classified as grade one.

In the board meeting, Ho told members that they would not consider the technical feasibility and how the preservation takes place, but the historical values, architectural style, social values and rarity of the pier.

A paper presented by the government to the board said the pier, built in 1953-1954, had rarity value as it was the only one serving both as a royal/ ceremonial and public pier, and the activities that the public undertook at the pier serve to enrich their nostalgic feelings.

The pier was also used as a place to hold official ceremony before the governors took charge during the colonial era.

Board member Li Lu-jen said the pier had values as it taught the public history even though the community did not agree with colonialism.

"The pier was a place for the governors to show their powers and that they are deployed by London to rule Hong Kong," he said.

Another board member Simon Shen Xuhui said the demolition of Central Star Ferry pier had enriched the Queen's pier's value.

But board member Yeung Yiu-chung said the pier had not much historical value.

"It was only a ceremonial place for royal celebrities and the governors without any significant event," he said.

Community groups attending the public hearing demanded the pier be classified as grade one and declared monuments.

Meanwhile, the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau decided to withdraw the document seeking HK$50 million to dismantle and reassemble the Queen's Pier in the LegCo Public Works Subcommittee yesterday morning.

The bureau permanent secretary, Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan said they would withdraw the paper after one hour of meeting as legislators requested to postpone voting until after the board decision.

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong legislator Choy So-yuk said there was no need to rush through the paper.

"I don't think that there is any urgency to immediately start the project. There is an important AAB meeting in the afternoon. Why should we hastily make a decision (on whether or not to support the paper) in the morning?" she asked.

"Maybe I would agree with the government at the end. But it takes more time to listen to more opinion," she said.

Suen said the document would be re-submitted to the committee in the next meeting.

(HK Edition 05/10/2007 page6)