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1.
Arts hub canopy requirement remains in place, says
source
1. Arts hub canopy requirement remains in place,
says source
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 17
October 2005
The canopy will remain a requirement
of the West Kowloon Cultural District development because scrapping
it would mean having to start the project from scratch, an official
source said.
He also said it was possible the
new statutory body to be set up may only be a monitoring organisation,
leaving the operation in the hands of the winning developer.
His remarks appeared to contradict
comments by Chief Secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan, who recently told
legislators that the canopy would stay for the time being, as public
opinion on it was inconclusive. His remark raised speculation that
it might be scrapped later.
The source said: "The new body
will surely be charged with the role of monitoring the arts hub,
but as we still need to work on its terms of reference, it is too
early to conclude it will be responsible for managing the arts and
cultural facilities."
He insisted the canopy would not
be scrapped. "It is a mandatory requirement. Some of the entries
were rejected because they did not have the canopy in their proposal;
if we scrap it, it means the project needs to go back to square
one."
It is understood the government
will amend the project's marking scheme to reflect additional rules
that Mr Hui had announced earlier, such as the requirement to contribute
to a trust fund.
The marking scheme rates the proposals
on merits including their master plan, the concept design for arts
and cultural facilities and open space, technical assessments and
solutions, operation, maintenance and management.
"We did not have a trust fund
in the beginning. Now the trust fund needs to be at least $30 billion,"
the source said. "Perhaps the bidders want to pay $40 billion
into the trust fund. It must be reflected in the marking scheme,
so we need to make some amendments."
Under the modified scheme, the winning
bidder needs to put at least $30 billion into a trust to pay for
the operation of the arts facilities.
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