The festival would be called Rockit, they said, and would feature alternative rock acts from Europe to attract the crowds but would also give a stage to local and regional acts.

The tourism chiefs nodded appreciatively, said they liked the idea and told Jayawardena and Li to keep in touch.

A hard few months of negotiations followed but eventually Rockit got the green light and Jayawardena and Li are booking some of the hottest acts in the world. By pure coincidence, however, the government by this time had come up with a plan to bring back punters to a Hong Kong devastated by Sars: a giant music festival. And where Rockit has to abide by official noise restrictions, the government's Harbour Fest appears to have no problems with the sound police.

Such dollar-rich competition might have caused many a promoter to buckle and call it a day. But Jayawardena knew he was pioneering something Hong Kong had never seen before and something that could, like the Fuji Festival in Japan, take off to become one of the highpoints of the region's cultural calendar.

For him, HarbourFest is not even an irritation. 'It's a different market altogether, we just aren't in competition,' he says confidently. 'While we will have some of the best cutting-edge rock in the world playing on our stages, the HarbourFest will have Westlife. Simple as that.'

The difference is striking indeed. While HarbourFest has booked acts from the past 40 years of mainstream music, Rockit is firmly concentrated on the acts of today and tomorrow. In acts such as headliners Supergrass, Jayawardena and Li - collectively known as The Matrix Entertainment Group - have pitched in at the seasoned end of the alternative scene to bring in the punters to the 20,000-capacity venue in Causeway Bay's Victoria Park.

Their selection appears calculated - the Oxford-based three-piece hail from the Brit-pop era that provides the influential backbone for much of Hong Kong's young emergent rock bands.

British rockers Six By Seven and Australian alternative rock act Regurgitator are also from much the same era but have a fan-base rooted far more in the cult underground. From Asia there's Japan's hotly tipped Electric Eel Shock, who are creating a storm in Europe with their unusual take on hard rock, and from the United States there's The Spanish Harlem Orchestra, who will provide some Latin beats.

For dance fans, French trip-hop outfit Rinocerose are making an appearance, as are DJ Suv and Brazil's Marky. And if pop is more your thing, then there's Leslie Loh, the Hong Kong-born RnB singer who has a growing following in Britain thanks to tour slots with the likes of Atomic Kitten.

According to Ben Tyrrell, the Matrix's promotions man, Rockit differs from HarbourFest in more than just the line-up. To coin a phrase all festival-goers will be more than familiar with, it's about the vibe.

'There is so much more to this than just bands, which of course is important,' said Tyrrell on the run between meetings. 'The emphasis has been on the event and the atmosphere, of getting people together in a European-style festival where the music is more of a backdrop than the focus.'

One of Rockit's coups has been to win approval from the police for a liquor licence. In fact, says Jayawardena, such is the pioneering nature of the event that the police assured him this was the first time they had issued such a licence.

Also, there will be an international food festival, distilling one of Hong Kong's greatest attributes - its variety of cuisine - into one field.

Jayawardena, whose Amnesia club in Central hosts Hong Kong's only successful alternative music club night, Brown Sugar, says a prime reason for holding Rockit was to give a forum for Hong Kong's up and coming rock bands.

At a time when Cantopop CD sales are falling and attendances at DJ clubs are similarly going south, there has been a coincidental increase in the number of local bands playing original punk, garage rock and alternative rock. Witness the sudden popularity of Aberdeen's Warehouse club for proof, where each week a growing list of talented home-grown bands have young fans swinging from the rafters.

High on the bill at Rockit, for instance, is a local band it's been impossible to ignore of late, Uncle Joe. Currently promoting their debut album From This Towers Of This City I Can Still See All Of Your Promises, their brand of emotional hardcore punk - known in short as emo - has won them plaudits from overseas as well as at home that has made them one of the underground bands to watch.

'The energy for this kind of music is always there, it's just stifled because there is nowhere willing to give these youngsters a place to play or to develop,' says Jayawardena. 'It's suppressed because there is a reluctance on the part of venue owners to put on anything new or risk.'

Tickets for the event have been set at just $120 per day and go on sale today. 'We want as many people as possible to enjoy the festival experience.' says Jayawardena

He's not deterred by the failure earlier this year of the Pearl River Festival to put on a similar event combining overseas and local artists in a Glastonbury-style festival.

'I never was worried by that because I knew we had the expertise to overcome some of the problems that Pearl river encountered. I have been dealing with the government on these sorts of things for many years. It is, essentially, a skill you have to learn.''

Rockit Oct 25-26. Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, 11am-11pm. Tickets, priced $120 per day, are available from today at HMV stores.