Acid test, not voodoonomics, shows atrium expansion needless

'Moreover, Hong Kong needs to recognise and respond to the evolving trends in the exhibition industry, if it is to maximise the opportunities presented by the rapid economic growth of Mainland China, and in the face of competition from the Mainland and Macau exhibition industries.'

Government press release

IT IS THE government's reasoning for going ahead with construction of the controversial 19,400 square metre atrium expansion at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Let us put some perspective on this. We do not need this expansion to showcase Hong Kong's own wares. We have almost none of them left to showcase. Our manufacturing industries have effectively all gone across the border and our domestic exports now amount to little more than 1 per cent of the mainland's, excluding booking tricks we play with garments and textiles.

Nor can we claim that building more exhibition space is a service the mainland desperately needs from us. By the end of this year, there will be a total 870,000 square metres of floor area in exhibition centres in Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, leave alone the pretensions that Macau may have.

It is a great deal of space. To put it in contrast, the total dedicated exhibition space in our exhibition centre at present is only about 46,000 square metres while AsiaWorld Expo at the airport has about 66,000 square metres. There is almost eight times as much just across the border.