Councils put sports arenas on fast track

In keeping with their motto 'Sport for All', the Provisional Regional Council and the Provisional Urban Council continue to open sport and recreation facilities at an unprecedented rate.

After providing such facilities as the Hammer Hill leisure pool and Tsing Yi sports ground last year and the Tuen Mun Golf Centre in 1995, the two councils have a number of other projects either just completed or under construction.

In May, the Provisional Urban Council opened the $125 million Shek Kip Mei Park indoor games hall (IGH) in Sham Shui Po. With an area covering 1.05 hectares, the main feature of the IGH is the outdoor wall- climbing apparatus for simulated rock climbing.

Four 15-metre walls, which have been built to international standards and are free to use, have proved popular and the many people using them have drawn large crowds of onlookers.

The ground floor of the IGH houses a children's play room and two activity rooms which have been used for dancing, martial arts, yoga, table tennis, games and judo.

On the first floor, a multi-purpose arena has been built which can accommodate about 500 spectators, with seating for 344. The arena can be used as three basketball courts, two volleyball courts, eight badminton courts, or for handball, hockey, netball and five-a-side soccer.