1 Kai Tak project ready for takeoff Plan for former airport to cost HK$100b
Joyce Ng, SCMP 14 January 2009
Source: SCMP
The long-awaited project to turn the former Kai Tak airport into a modern district is finally ready, with the government mapping out a three-stage development plan that will cost taxpayers more than HK$100 billion.
But the project, which will take 12 years to complete and will be one of the biggest seen in the city, has raised concerns about whether the site will be properly integrated into the old district and deliver key facilities such as a public hospital as planned.
The site has been vacant since the new airport opened in 1998.
The 320-hectare development would include housing and commercial towers, a sports stadium, cruise terminal and a park, a Development Bureau spokesman said yesterday.
The Kai Tak project - drawn up 10 years ago with plans to reclaim about 200 hectares - underwent a major review in 2004 after a court ruled that harbour reclamation had to pass the test of overriding public need. The development scale was reduced to achieve zero reclamation, and building heights lowered.
The current scheme was approved in 2007.
The first phase, to be completed by 2013, will see 13,000 public housing flats, three schools and a government office building to the north of the site. The spokesman said this would address the city's urgent need for public housing and an expansion of tourism facilities.
"Kai Tak will be a colossal project worth more than HK$100 billion. We want to emphasise it will create jobs for many people," the spokesman said. The environmental impact assessment report for the project states that Kai Tak will provide work for 83,000 in the construction and service sectors.
"We introduce public housing first because there is an urgent need in society. We understand that there will be few facilities to serve them in Kai Tak, so two new footbridges will be built," the spokesman said. The bridges will connect the site with estates in San Po Kong and Choi Hung.
Transport infrastructure will follow in the second stage, to be completed by 2016. The Sha Tin-to-Central rail link will run through Kai Tak, while Route 6 will connect the site with Tseung Kwan O.
Land for private residential and commercial developments, of low- and medium-density, will be available by this stage.
The Kai Tak nullah will be transformed into a river, after work to improve the water quality is completed. The cruise terminal building and its second berth will also be completed, as well as an adjoining heliport.
Two underground streets with shops will connect the area with Kowloon City and San Po Kong.
The development will be completed by 2021 with the 45,000-seater stadium and park on the former runway. By then, Kai Tak will house a population of 86,000. A monorail and bridge are planned for the final phase to connect the site with Kwun Tong. The spokesman said the monorail and bridge were not finalised as reclamation may be required.
While a public hospital was planned for Kai Tak, the spokesman said the government had yet to decide when it would be built, but it was likely to be during the second phase.
The administration will first seek HK$3.3 billion from the legislature next week for seven infrastructure-related projects.
Construction will start after the projects have had their environmental impact assessments approved. They will provide work for 1,500.
Lawmaker for the Democratic Party, Lee Wing-tat, said the plan had not addressed his party's concerns that Kai Tak would become an isolated community.
The government was using the same planning strategies as it had in other areas such as that around Tai Kok Tsui, he said.
"Kai Tak is separated from neighbourhoods by very wide roads. A few footbridges and subways will be unable to integrate new areas into old ones. People will not want to walk all the way through. I'm worried it will miss an opportunity to revitalise East Kowloon."
Wong Tai Sin district councillor Lam Man-fai said the government should quickly work out the timetable for the public hospital to serve residents of the public housing estates, who would be the first people to arrive.
He said the nearest hospital would be Queen Elizabeth Hospital or United Christian Hospital, which would take half an hour to get to if there was traffic congestion.
2 Foster to offer ideas on arts hub despite canopy's rejection
Olga Wong, SCMP 14 January 2009
Zaha Hadid, Lord Foster and Lord Rogers. Photo: SCMP, AP
Star architect Lord Foster will offer design ideas for the West Kowloon arts hub despite the decision to scrap his canopy concept for the site, which won an international design competition for the project seven years ago.
Another star in the field, Rocco Yim Sen-kee, would also submit a design, a source from the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority said.
Yim's concept for the new government complex on the Tamar site at Admiralty, dubbed "The Door", was picked for that project in 2007, and his concept for West Kowloon earned an honourable mention in the 2002 contest.
The source said both were among the 12 architects shortlisted by the authority for the role of conceptual consultant.
Lord Rogers, designer of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry, architect of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, are also on the shortlist.
The 12 were chosen from 40 architects who responded to the government's invitation in November for expressions of interest in the project. They are understood to be working with local partners to ensure their design ideas have a Hong Kong perspective.
Philip Liao Yi-kang, who came second to Lord Foster seven years ago, has expressed interest in designing the arts hub, but it could not be confirmed whether his name is on the shortlist.
The Home Affairs Bureau said the authority had shortlisted 12 conceptual consultants and four development consultants from the 40 firms which initially expressed interest in designing and planning the complex on the West Kowloon reclamation.
Sources said the four development consultants were Arup, Gensler-Hyder, Maunsell-Aedas and Motts-Terry Farrell, which have strong international experience in planning and engineering matters.
According to the authority, the 12 architects will, at this stage, offer only technical advice and cost analyses. Three will be selected to draw up concept plans for public consultation, which will be held this spring.
A development consultant will be picked from the four shortlisted to advise the authority on how to build the design which is finally selected.
Patrick Lau Sau-shing, the lawmaker representing architects, said the authority should release designs from all 12 shortlisted architects to give the public more choice.
But the authority's project director, Augustine Ng Wah-keung, said the 12 shortlisted firms were being asked to offer technical advice and costings, not draw up plans.
