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Press
Releases - 1997 (July - December)
Opening
of Tsuen Wan Environmental Resource Centre
The Tsuen
Wan Environmental Resource Centre (TWERC) was opened today
(Monday) to enhance the environmental awareness of the community
within the urban west catchment and help extensively in expanding
the geographical coverage of environmental education facilities
in Hong Kong.
Located
in a historical house at Tak Wah Park, the centre is a joint
venture between the Environmental Protection Department and
the private sector financed by the Environment and Conservation
Fund (ECF) and the Woo Wheelock Green Fund (WWGF).
The Conservancy
Association has been awarded the contract to operate the centre
from 1997 to 1999.
Speaking
at the opening ceremony, the Chairman of the Environmental
Campaign Committee (ECC), Mr Ronnie Wong, said: "This is the
first attempt to work with a Green Group as partners in the
promotion of public environmental awareness."
To mark
the opening of TWERC, Mrs Betty Tung, the wife of the Chief
Executive, has unveiled a Chinese plaque and a Chinese couplet
composed and written by her.
The Chinese
plaque states: "Eco Place". The Chinese couplet says: "Happy
are people in this house environed by green trees; Freely
birds fly around this place surrounded by bamboos."
"When
I was composing the couplet for Eco Place, what came to my
mind was a picture showing an antique Hakka cottage house
environed by green trees and bathed in fresh air, where elderly
people can enjoy themselves either by sitting comfortably
under the trees, playing chess or chatting with each other,
and birds can sing joyfully and take a rest peacefully," Mrs
Tung said.
With the
approval of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, renovation
work has been carried by the Architectural Services Department
to convert the historical house into an environmental resource
centre.
About
$3.7 million has been spent on the renovation while another
$1.4 million will be used to operate the centre for the first
two years.
One of
the officiating guests, Mr Peter Woo, said it was the biggest
project jointly financed by the ECF and WWGF.
In order
to reach out to the public in promoting environmental education
and awareness, the Resource Centre provides various facilities
and services, including: access to the World Wide Web for
environmental information, a library, a computer room, an
AV room, an Exhibition Area, a Green Home Exhibition Area,
and guided visits.
The Secretary
for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Bowen Leung, said
at the ceremony that four more environmental resource centres
were planned to be established in other parts of the Territories
in the coming years.
"These
centres will be located in Kowloon East, NT East, NT North,
and NT West, each to cater for a population of about one million.
"We would
try our best to bring these new centres into operation as
soon as possible," Mr Leung said.
The Tsuen
Wan Environmental Resource Centre was opened by ECC Chairman,
Mr Ronnie Wong, together with three officiating guests, the
wife of the Chief Executive, Mrs Betty Tung; Mr Peter Woo;
Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Bowen Leung,
and four other guests, Chairman of the Provisional Regional
Council Ad Hoc Committee on Waste Reduction, Mr Chow Ping-tim;
Director of Environmental Protection, Mr Robert J S Law; Founder
Chairman of ECC, Mrs Peggy Lam, and Chairman of The Conservancy
Association, Dr Ng Cho-nam.
End/Monday,
December 1, 1997
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