Hong Kong’s long-awaited Kai Tak Sports Park reaches out to 200 local, global groups to promote venue amid ‘white elephant’ concerns
- Authorities say main stadium should host various sports events for at least 40 days a year
- ‘I am very worried that if there are not enough events held at the venue, the societal discourse will believe that it has become a white elephant project,’ lawmaker says
Hong Kong’s long-awaited Kai Tak Sports Park has contacted more than 200 city and international groups to promote itself as a venue for large-scale events, authorities have revealed, amid lawmakers’ concerns about it becoming a white elephant.
Acting secretary for culture, sports and tourism Raistlin Lau Chun said the government had stipulated the venue should host a variety of sports events at its main stadium for at least 40 days a year in its first five years of operation.
“[The operator of the park] has already contacted over 200 local and international groups to introduce its facilities,” he said during a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday.
“There is some headway for some discussions, but it is not appropriate for me to announce anything at this stage as there are a lot of commercial details that need to be handled.”
With a 50,000-seat stadium, a 10,000-seat indoor centre and a 5 000-seat public sports ground, the HK$30 billion (US$3.8 billion) park on the site of the city’s former airport was designed to cater for major events.
It is operated by New World Development and its subsidiary NWS Holdings and is expected to be open for business next year.
Hong Kong has been striving to host big events to boost its economy and city leader John Lee Ka-chiu has vowed to lure in superstars, such as Taylor Swift.
US pop icon Swift performed six sold-out shows in Singapore between March 2 and 9. Economists estimated that her concerts would add around S$300 million (US$225 million) to S$400 million to the city state’s first quarter GDP.
Sports and culture sector lawmaker Kenneth Fok Kai-kong said he was “trembling with fear” as he had not heard much about events at Kai Tak. He added he was concerned the project would be viewed as a white elephant.
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“I am very worried that if there are not enough events held at the venue, the societal discourse will believe that it has become a white elephant project – this is something that we do not want to see happen,” he said.
Lau added authorities had set performance indicators for the park’s operator.
The number of annual sports events at the venue would increase from 40 to 54 days in the sixth to 10th year of operation.
Lau added that he believed that the operator would work on attracting large-scale events as it was responsible for its own profits and losses, as well as paying fees to the government.
“I believe Kai Tak Sports Park has a sufficient incentive to actively bring more large-scale events to Hong Kong,” he said.
Authorities added the sports park was expected to open in the first half of 2025, as the construction of the major facilities was scheduled to be completed later this year.
