Flooding at construction site of Hong Kong’s troubled West Kowloon Cultural District ‘more extensive than anticipated’
- Work at affected area – about 20 per cent of the site – suspended pending approval from the Buildings Department
- Lawmaker says West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, which manages the site, tried to play down the problems
The leakage and flooding at the construction site of the West Kowloon Cultural District are worse than expected and similar difficulties are expected at other parts of the multibillion-dollar project, development officers said on Friday.
Repairs to the reclaimed land, flooded equipment and tilted structures – caused on Thursday by cracks in a cofferdam – would be completed in the next few days, the officers said, but work would be suspended on the affected part of the government-funded megaproject pending approval from the Buildings Department.
The assessment comes after Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan said the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, which manages the site, tried to play down the problems.
There had also been calls for an independent study to make sure the project would not repeat the same problems – such as flooding and a 25-metre-wide sinkhole that opened up at the building site of the Lyric Theatre.
Jeremy Stowe, the authority’s chief projects officer, said the leakage occurred after the project dug some 20 metres underground.
“I should make it clear that digging a very significant and deep hole in a reclaimed site right next to the harbour certainly comes with its challenges,” Stowe said at a press conference on Friday.
The excavation was to build a basement under the theatre. He said a cofferdam, a wall-like enclosure, had been built to allow the excavation of the soil in a dry environment.
Lin Sui-man, Stowe’s colleague, said that because the cofferdam was only temporary and not designed to be fully watertight, when bigger waves occurred the water pressure breached the wall and resulted in flooding.
They said 20 per cent of the theatre site is affected – that’s quite a big area. And this is the third time leakage had happened. Is it too early to conclude the damage is under control?
Lin said there was no problem in the design or building work, and the leakage was “unexpected” because of the soil condition.
“We can say the leakage was more extensive than anticipated,” Stowe said. “We are pleased to say it is repaired very quickly. There is no further leakage.”
Stowe confirmed reports that leakage and a smaller sinkhole was found on the same site in April, but dismissed it as “nothing of significance”.
Sinkhole, leaks and flooding plague West Kowloon arts megaproject
The leakage on Thursday was the third on the same plot, Lin said. The first incident occurred in September last year.
Stowe said it would be up to the Buildings Department to decide when work on the affected area – taking up as much as 20 per cent of the theatre site – would continue. He said construction on the rest of the site would continue as scheduled.
He said the incident did not cause any injuries or safety issues in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Construction of the 40-hectare West Kowloon Cultural District started in 2013 with an initial grant of HK$21.6 billion (US$2.8 billion). The plan was to turn a prime harbourfront site into a world-class arts hub, featuring a dozen facilities such as theatres and museums.
Critics estimated the total cost of the project would exceed more than HK$70 billion.
Among many cost overruns, it emerged in January that taxpayers would need to cough up another HK$17.5 billion for a huge basement complex with roads, which was to link up several performance venues to create a car-free environment above ground.
Stowe said he did expect the “same challenges” when work on other parts of the basement work commenced.
Chan, a member of a Legislative Council’s committee that monitored the project, said the authority appeared to be playing down the problem.
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“They said 20 per cent of the theatre site is affected – that’s quite a big area,” she said. “And this is the third time leakage had happened. Is it too early to conclude the damage is under control?”
She urged the government to consider hiring an independent expert to assess the situation before allowing work to restart.
Greg Wong Chak-yan, a veteran civil engineer, said the construction team had not injected enough dense fluid, or grouting, to make the wall resistant to bigger waves.
He suggested more grouting and more monitoring of waves to avoid a repeat of the problem.
This should be done, in his words, “instead of blaming the soil”.
