Bold visions for Central waterfront revamp fall by the wayside
As you wrote ('Keep the bureaucrats away from arts hub', April 19), Sir David Tang Wing-cheung 'performed an admirable public service' in conducting the forum regarding West Kowloon on April 18. He illustrated what the government might have done years ago: engage an expert team, under effective leadership, to tackle the core issue of software.
Meanwhile, Central waterfront - arguably, the most important of the harbour's three large sites - wanders forward under the direction of the Planning Department. True to the saying 'To a hammer every problem looks like a nail', it has produced a scheme whose main public features are a large road and a waterfront promenade that looks about as 'world class' (government's stated vision) as the one at Tsim Sha Tsui.
I get the point of your headline, but I think the crucial change - if we hope to get such strategic projects right - is introducing a process that engages relevant experts to envision one or more viable concepts at the outset. That process could be run by a senior bureaucrat or a trusted appointee.
In its early stages, a large, creative project needs a producer/champion like Sir David, who knows how to pull expertise and talent together, generate ideas, then produce a compelling concept that is greater than the sum of its parts.
To some extent, I sympathise with the department. It has to, among other things, plan roads and infrastructure. I suspect that its work is complicated enough without heading off on creative tangents.
