Scale back West Kowloon cultural district for better use of public funds
Albert Cheng says personnel changes, delays and runaway budget aside, Hong Kong must ask whether the arts hub is being built for vanity's sake
Conceived by former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa in 1998, the plan for a world-class arts and cultural hub in West Kowloon has been plagued by bad news. The latest development came last month when the project's head, Michael Lynch, announced he was abandoning ship.
At 64, Lynch is the second chief executive officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to resign without completing his term. He said he wanted to spend time with his sick wife. His predecessor, Graham Sheffield, quit just five months into the job, citing health reasons. Less than two months later, he was named director of arts for the British Council. Before Sheffield, former Disney executive Angus Cheng Siu-chuen also resigned as the authority's executive director after a week on the job, for "personal reasons".
These personnel changes at the top suggest there may be more to the project's problems than meets the eye.
The Legislative Council had allocated HK$21.6 billion for the project, which was to include 17 arts venues on the 40-hectare site. However, the site has yet to be turned over to the authority due to delays in the construction of express rail link terminus there.
The latest estimates put the final bill at between HK$40 billion and HK$50 billion. The original funding can only cover the construction costs of the facilities in the first two phases. The fate of the core items in phase three is uncertain.
Construction work has been slow. The Xiqu Centre and M+ museum for contemporary visual arts are due to be completed in 2017 under the first phase. The Centre for Contemporary Performance, which includes several black box theatres, is targeted for completion by 2020, under phase two. The third phase of core performing arts venues has been postponed until after 2020.
The scheme is haunted by uncertainties. It is, however, certain that its price tag will rise.
While serving in Legco, I was a member of the subcommittee on the West Kowloon Cultural District development. In my eyes, West Kowloon is, in essence, a property development packaged as an arts and cultural initiative. As problems continue to surface, policymakers should take a fresh look at the project.
Do we really need to transform Hong Kong into a metropolitan centre for arts and culture? Do we really need to spend a fortune to fill the future M+ with an international collection? Can part of the site be put to better social use? We as a community need to do some collective soul-searching on these and related questions.
First and foremost, we need to put a lid on the runaway costs. The project should be truncated after the completion of its first two phases. Resources would be better spent on supporting local artists and indigenous traditional art forms, such as Cantonese opera.
The blueprint for the Xiqu Centre for traditional Chinese operas was drawn up by renowned Canadian architect, Bing Thom. According to the cultural district's website, the design is inspired by design principles integral to Chinese culture, including the concept of a courtyard, serving as a space for events and celebrations.
To expand this concept to its fullest, the Xiqu Centre should be surrounded by a variety of food stalls and acrobatic and other roadside shows for the people. After all, Cantonese opera is meant to be a boisterous communal event. Such a venue can become a lively attraction.
Second, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is not a big fan of arts and culture. He has time and again stressed housing as his top priority and repeatedly complained about the practical difficulties in providing land for housing.
West Kowloon is the last big available site in our urban areas. We might as well rezone West Kowloon phase three for both public and private residential blocks. The profits from the housing could be ploughed back into funding arts and cultural programmes.
The facilities in the first two phases of West Kowloon aside, there are 14 public museums and over a dozen performance venues of varying sizes across the city managed by the government. These do not include those in the Arts Centre, the Academy for Performing Arts and the AsiaWorld-Expo. Hong Kong can hardly complain about a lack of arts venues.
Meanwhile, the historic Central Police Station, coupled with the old neighbourhood along Hollywood Road, can be a viable supplement to a scaled-down West Kowloon. This part of Central could be connected with the old government office buildings at Lower Albert Road, as well as Lan Kwai Fong and the Soho area for synergy in attracting tourists. A revamped district in Central would be as appealing as West Kowloon. It also has the added advantage of being easily accessible.
It is time to rethink West Kowloon. The last thing we need is a white elephant to feed our collective vanity for high culture.
