HK$31.9 billion Kai Tak Sports Park won’t be a ‘fat pork’ contract, government insists as lawmakers continue criticisms

As Home Affairs Bureau defend proposals, pan-democrat lawmakers say the massive project is bloated and overblown and government should go back to the drawing board

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Betty Fung defended the Kai Tak project. Photo: SCMP

Published: 1:48pm, 17 May 2017Updated: 11:17pm, 17 May 2017

Lawmakers continued their criticism of the Kai Tak Sports Park project as another meeting of the government’s Public Works Subcommittee came and went without approving the motion to send the HK$31.9 billion mega-project up to the Finance Committee.

At the third meeting of the subcommittee on the topic, Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, permanent secretary for home affairs, insisted the contract was “not going to be ‘fat pork’” for the winning bidder as she defended the Home Affairs Bureau’s recommended ‘Design-Build-Operate’ (DBO) model.

Under the DBO scheme, the winning consortium will have to design and build the sprawling complex, and run its stadiums and retail and dining facilities under a 25-year contract, including a projected five years of construction.

The HAB is proposing an unprecedented in Hong Kong ‘bid incentive scheme’ under which unsuccessful tenderers will receive half of their bid cost back, up to HK$60 million, because it feels it is the only way to ensure a sufficient number and quality of bids. It estimates the cost of putting a bid together in the region of HK$100 million to HK$200 million.

The planned 28-hectare facility on the site of the former airport entails a 50,000-seat stadium for major sports and entertainment events, 10,000-seat indoor arena, 5,000-seat community sports ground, retail and dining space of some 57,000 square metres, a 3,000 square-metre ‘dining cove’, hotel, offices, bicycle track and public open space and more.

An artist's impression of the site. Photo: Home Affairs Bureau

HK$31.9 billion Kai Tak Sports Park won’t be a ‘fat pork’ contract, government insists as lawmakers continue criticisms

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As Home Affairs Bureau defend proposals, pan-democrat lawmakers say the massive project is bloated and overblown and government should go back to the drawing board

As Home Affairs Bureau defend proposals, pan-democrat lawmakers say the massive project is bloated and overblown and government should go back to the drawing board