HK$10b price tag put on Asian Games in HK
Hosting the 2023 Asian Games will cost HK$10 billion, the low end of the spending spectrum, with the government presenting the public consultation paper to the Legislative Council today.
The price tag was disclosed by a sports official close to the administration. At a special home affairs panel meeting, the government will brief lawmakers on the estimated cost of staging the Games, as well as the benefit to sports development and the community.
The government has tried to limit the cost in the hope of obtaining budgetary approval from the council's Finance Committee and winning the support of the public.
Speculation had put the cost as high as HK$50 billion for building facilities and improving infrastructure if Hong Kong wanted to stage a successful Asian Games.
But the HK$10 billion estimate will be made on the assumption that no new facilities will be built specifically for the Games. Existing facilities will be renovated instead.
The athletes' village, the home for an estimated 15,000 athletes and officials during the Games period, will become a joint venture with property developers, and will not be included in the budget.
'Many of the 2023 Games events can be held at the Kai Tak sports hub, which has been planned by the government for many years and is not [being] built because of the Asian Games bid. Its construction cost, therefore, will not be included as part of the 2023 Games bid,' an official close to the government said.
'Some new sports facilities which will be opened soon - or are under planning for the next 10 years in various districts - may also be upgraded to meet the Asian Games standard, but since they are under the government's regular capital expenditure they will not be included in the bid budget.' The government spent HK$1 billion on renovating sports facilities to host the East Asian Games last year. The Kowloon Park swimming pool, the Hong Kong Coliseum and Queen Elizabeth Stadium have all had facelifts. A new HK$600 million cycling velodrome will open in Tseung Kwan O in 2012.
The Kai Tak project, which features a 45,000-seat stadium and multi-purpose sports centre, would be the major venue for the 2023 Games.
The next Asian Games, in Guangzhou in less than two months, cost the mainland authorities an estimated 200 billion yuan (HK$230 billion).
But a senior official for the Guangzhou event said the core expenditure, which included construction of facilities and Games operations, would be less than 15 billion yuan.
The Hong Kong Olympic Committee has been given until January to submit a formal bid document to the Olympic Council of Asia but the committee needs to obtain financial backing from the government beforehand.
Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing said HK$10 billion was a huge amount and the government needed to show evidence of how the public would benefit from the games. Civic Party legislator Tanya Chan said of the HK$10 billion cost: 'It's about half of that for the HK$21.6 billion West Kowloon Cultural District ... we will need to see how the HK$10 billion will be used.'
Professor Chau Kwong-wing, chair professor at the University of Hong Kong's real estate and construction department, said the government should have a transparent, fair and competitive environment for developers to bid to build the athletes' village.
Wide agenda
The government paper states the 2023 Games will feature 35 sports
The number of these sports that feature on the programme for the 2016 Olympic Games: 28
