CANOEISTS are keeping their fingers crossed that their application for a $10 million government grant will be approved so they can start building their own clubhouse on the bank of the Shing Mun River in Sha Tin.
The Hong Kong Canoe Union received a Government lease on a 2,000-square-metre site - about 500 metres downstream from the rowing centre but on the opposite bank of the Shing Mun River - earlier this year.
Stephen Li Tsz-wan, chairman of the HKCU's development committee, said: ''We hope to centralise everything at our new clubhouse which would have a training pool, physical training room, storage facilities and office space.
''The building itself is only one storey but it would cost about $10 million to build, and we have applied for a grant from the Sir David Trench Fund.'' The Sir David Trench Fund for Recreation, run by the Government's Recreation and Culture Branch, was started in 1970 with a $3 million anonymous donation but its coffers have increased to $23.2 million over the years.
However, Joseph Lau, a senior executive officer of the CRB and secretary of the Fund committee, said they only have a $4.5 million budget for sports sponsorship this year.
He said: ''We do not touch the capital in the Fund, and a portion of the earnings from investments will be pumped into sports sponsorship every year.
