Lawmakers want transparency for West Kowloon arts hub rent policy

The body running the West Kowloon arts hub site needs to be more transparent about rental charges, lawmakers say.

It refuses to say how much it charged organisers of this weekend's Clockenflap outdoor music festival, or reveal the rent paid by a couple who recently held their wedding party on the prime waterfront site.

It said the information was "commercially sensitive". Officials would not even explain how the body, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, decides who to rent parts of the 40-hectare site to as it awaits the construction of arts venues including museums and theatres.

The authority, which has been handed HK$21 billion of taxpayers' money to develop the cultural district, leases the land from the government. It reportedly charged HK$10 million for the wedding party on November 17. But it charged festival organisers only a six-digit sum. While neither side will say what that figure was, it was believed to be under HK$1 million.

Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan said if a statutory body charged others for using government land that was meant to be open to the public, its revenue-raising strategies must be scrutinised.

"We put public money into the project on top of this huge piece of land, so when they want to raise money to support other expenditure, it should tell the public as a guiding principle instead of being a loose cannon," Ho said yesterday.

"The fee structure and application process should be made known so no favours are given to certain close affiliates. The area must be open to all, not only to those from certain privileged groups."