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Building Hong Kong’s prosperity for half a century with environmental friendly quarrying business

26 Jul 2017

K. Wah Construction Materials Limited (“KWCM”) returned the site to the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) on 26th July 2017 to bring its 53 years’ commercial excavation and operation work at the Anderson Road Quarry to a close. Over two hundred guests, including Mr Lam Sai-hung, JP, Director of Civil Engineering and Development Department and Commissioner of Mines of the HKSAR, Mr Ho Kin-sang Kenneth, JP, Acting Head of Geotechnical Engineering Office and Deputy Commissioner of Mines of the HKSAR, various business leaders, Government officials and local representatives, attended the ceremony and witnessed this significant historical moment together. Dr Lui Che-woo, Chairman of K. Wah Group, said in his speech that quarrying had been the founding business of K. Wah Group, and the Anderson Road Quarry was viewed as an important cornerstone of the Group in Hong Kong over several decades.

Mr. Lam Sai-hung, JP, Director of Civil Engineering and Development Department and Commissioner of Mines (Left 6); along with Dr. Lui Che-woo, Chairman of K. Wah Group (Right 6); Mr. Francis Lui, Vice Chairman of K. Wah Group (Left 5); Mr. Joseph Chee, Managing Director of K. Wah Construction Materials (Left 1); and Mr. David Chen, Associate Director and Head of Southern Region of K. Wah Construction Materials (Right 1), officiated at the Anderson Road Quarry handover ceremony.

Mr. Lam Sai-hung, JP, Director of the Civil Engineering and Development Department and Commissioner of Mines (Left 6), together with Dr. Lui Che-woo, Chairman of K. Wah Group (Left 5), and officiating guests, enjoyed the splendid panorama of Hong Kong from the deck of the Anderson Road Quarry.

Exemplary model in the industry – quarrying 100 million tons of stone materials for the city

In 1964, K. Wah became the first private enterprise awarded a quarrying rights contract in Hong Kong, which gave access to the Hong Kong’s largest scale Anderson Road Quarry. Since then, K. Wah has established an exemplary model with high efficiency, safe production and automated operations in the industry with its pioneering efforts in implementing automation equipment.  In his speech, Director Lam Sai-hung especially thanked K. Wah for its contribution to Hong Kong. He mentioned that “the Anderson Road Quarry has supplied 100 million tons of stone materials to support the infrastructure of Kowloon East and even the entire city. Besides, the Quarry has also reused around 8 million tons of excessive quarry rocks from local infrastructure projects, which has mitigated the pressure of landfills and benefited the general public by becoming more environment-friendly.”

In 1997, KWP Quarry Co., Ltd. entered into an agreement for the rehabilitation of Anderson Road Quarry.

Quarrying industry as the unsung hero

Over the years, K. Wah has supplied premium aggregates to large-scale infrastructures in Hong Kong, including Kai Tak Airport, Chek Lap Kok New Airport, Tsing Ma Bridge, Route 3, Cross-Harbour Tunnel, Western Harbour Crossing, reclamation works along Kowloon East and the kerb of Kowloon Bay to Kwun Tong Hoi Bun Road. Dr Lui asserted that KWCM had played a pivotal role in supporting the development and prosperity of Hong Kong. “In every four buildings in Hong Kong, K. Wah has supplied one of them with its construction materials. In particular, the quarrying industry continuously devotes its contribution to Hong Kong as the unsung hero. Without the basis of construction industry, our city can hardly develop into its present-day prosperity.”

Restoring natural landscape of barren hill to build 10000 units

In order to ensure the rehabilitation of ecological environment of the production site, KWCM entered into an agreement with the HKSAR involving the“Rehabilitation of Anderson Road Quarry” and executed the “green quarrying and rehabilitation” model. After returning the site, the Government plans to turn the 40 hectares urban land into a new community and develop private and subsidised housing flats with a planned population of about 25,000. The Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, announced in the Policy Address in October 2017 that the “Starter Homes” Trial Scheme will be launched in late 2018.

Staffs gathered at the site unwilling to part

The successful achievement of the quarry, as Dr Lui suggested, is the contribution of all staff. “I know that many colleagues are even more unwilling to part than I am, as they are the ones who worked from blasting to production.” He mentioned that the staff in KWCM have been striving hard for Hong Kong’s quarrying industry for years, and many of them have even devoted their effort for more than four decades. Hence, Dr Lui visited the office in Anderson Road Quarry to greet and chat with the colleagues, and awarded them with commemorative gold plates as recognitions.

Dr. Lui Che-woo expressed his gratitude to the staff of the Quarry and presented them with Long Service Awards ranging from 15 to 40 years.

Seeking continuous development of quarrying industry for competitive advantages

Capitalising on unparalleled experience gained over half a century, Mr Francis Lui Yiu Tung, Deputy Chairman of K. Wah Group, pointed that the success of the quarry has attracted engineers from all parts of the world to come and investigate. With the expected completion of a number of large infrastructures, public and private housing flats in future, there is a need for Hong Kong to develop new quarry production sites to maintain aggregate supply. KWCM sincerely hopes that the industry will continue its development in the future to secure steady supply of local construction materials and facilitate development and economic prosperity of Hong Kong. In the meantime, KWCM will continue to contribute to the growth of Mainland China, including the collaboration with well-known steel makers in the country. We look forward to participating in infrastructure projects arising from the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Big Bay Area by exploring markets with environment-friendly materials and upholding the idea of “construction for the betterment of the country”.

Mr. Lam Sai-hung, JP, Director of Civil Engineering and Development Department and Commissioner of Mines presented an album to Dr. Lui Che-woo, Chairman of K. Wah Group, containing photos of the Anderson Road Quarry and its rehabilitation thanks to the efforts of KWCM.