The Hong Kong Jockey Club has vowed to press ahead with funding the construction of a soccer academy in Tseung Kwan O despite estimated costs having more than quadrupled since the idea was first mooted in 2005.
The club approved a budget of HK$103 million when the academy - to be built on a 9.6-hectare landfill site in New Territories East - was first proposed seven years ago. But the construction never started as negotiations with the Hong Kong Football Association dragged on.
The club's chief executive, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, said yesterday he expected the project would now cost between HK$400 million and HK$500 million.
'The HK$103 million is a 2005 figure and I have a gut feeling it's now in the region of HK$400 million to HK$500 million,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said. 'Building a facility like this is easy, but you will have to operate it and make it sustainable. The Jockey club cannot and will not operate the facility as it has to be done by the HKFA.
'We are still waiting for a proposal from the association so that we can proceed with it. There was a feasibility study of the project but it is different from a real proposal. Other than the construction, we need to think of how the academy will be run and how this training centre can be sustainable. You can build something but in the end can you sustain it?'
A passionate soccer fan, Engelbrecht-Bresges (pictured) said there had been talks between the jockey club and the association before the departure of HKFA chief executive Gordon McKie last month.
'This is their internal problem and the most fundamental thing is we are committed to the development of soccer in Hong Kong,' he said. 'We had some good discussions over the last three or four months and even agreed in principle that if the proposals were finalised, we would be willing to build it by earmarking a significant amount of money
