Hong Kong to get mega court to pack in the masses
New facility in Sham Shui Po will be double the normal size to cater for the most high-profile cases, but its location is criticised as inconvenient
Hong Kong is to get a mega court with space for 100 members of the public and dozens of litigants and lawyers, to be used for high-profile cases that are subject to intense media attention.
It will be inside the HK$2.7 billion West Kowloon Law Courts Building, which is under construction at the junction of Tung Chau Street and Tonkin Street West in Sham Shui Po. The site faces the Vegetable Marketing Organisation packaging centre.
But Law Society vice-president Stephen Hung Wan-shun said he worried that the building would become a white elephant if higher court judges were unwilling to travel from the prime court sites of Central and Admiralty to Sham Shui Po to hear cases which could take weeks to finish.
The construction floor area of the West Kowloon development is about 60,000 square metres.
It will have 32 courts - including a magistrates' court, small claims tribunal, coroner's court, obscene articles tribunal and other facilities.
They will be located on the middle to upper floors of the development's two towers, according to the Architectural Services Department.