Harbour advisers have called for an increase in the amount of commercial land at Kai Tak to speed up the development of the city's second central business district.
Their advice came yesterday as the Harbourfront Commission's Kai Tak task force met to discuss the outline zoning plan for the former airport, earmarked for residential, commercial and recreational developments and a cruise terminal.
Task force chairman Vincent Ng Wing-shun said a review of land use might be necessary because of the government plan, announced in the policy address last week, to turn Kowloon East into a business district twice the size of Central. As well as the former airport it would include old industrial areas in Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay. The scheme features a HK$12 billion monorail linking Kowloon East to two MTR stations and the future Sha Tin-to-Central Link.
'Some members were concerned that it would be a long, uncertain process if the government does not increase business land in Kai Tak but simply waits for private owners of industrial land in Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay to redevelop their properties,' Ng said after the meeting.
'The government should study whether more commercial zones in Kai Tak are necessary.'
Commission members Winston Chu Ka-sun of the Society for Protection of the Harbour, and Nicholas Brooke said a planned stadium in Kai Tak could be dropped to make way for business.
