The government wants to make better use of the Kai Tak cruise terminal…
In last week’s Policy Address, Chief Executive John Lee said the SAR will publish an action plan on developing cruise tourism to enhance the terminal’s role as a hub for conventions and exhibitions.
“We now hope to see if we can better utilise the space of the cruise terminal. For example, can we make use of the rooftop area? It’s currently a park. Is there anything else we can do there? How can we promote more convention and exhibition activities?” [Tourism etc minister Kevin] Yeung told a radio programme.
It comes with a leftover Community Isolation Facility next door, which is slated to be anything but the obvious thing Hong Kong needs.
How about repurposing the billion-dollar giant worm? Imagine how many of the following you could fit into its interior (without sacrificing the rooftop ‘park’):
- elderly homes
- day care facilities
- kindergartens
- play areas
- artists’ studios
- pop-up stores/restaurants
- a real food hall
- a Northern Metropolis/Kau Yi Chau Museum (guaranteed to cost less than HK$600 million)
- a gift to Saudi Arabia, to be presented by Arabic-speaking taxi drivers (it would fit right in to the planned The Line at Neom – a city 100 miles long and 660 feet wide.)
Chuck in a few more attractions, and you might end up with a place people actually want to go to.
(Still trying to get my head around the HK$600700 million Northern Metropolis/Lantau reclamation museum – a pointless infrastructure project to promote a pointless infrastructure project. McLuhan’s ‘medium is the message’ anyone?)
If a park is not classified as a use of space, then the large “unused” area between Causeway Bay and Tin Hau is in big trouble.
On a different note, I was impressed by the eloquent vitriol the (North) Korean Central News Agency engaged in recently after drone flights over Pyongyang that originated in South Korea: “If the sovereignty of a nuclear weapons state was violated by mongrels tamed by Yankees, the master of those dogs should be held accountable for this.” The HKSARG ISD has a new bar to aspire to.
re Low Profile: we have already been down that road, plans were floated about a decade ago for a shopping mall under Vic park but eventually binned. Probably because of the MTR line running underneath and plans for an eventual additional line. And part of the park was axed to provide space for additional roads.
Re the Wanchai project. They could have left Fenwick Pier in pace and refurbished it for a fraction of the cost of the proposed museum of little public and tourist interest. But on the bright side it will give our stressed students a half day break as a trot around the exhibits will be a mandatory addition to the patriotic education curriculum.
re Mary Melville, as they are pushing Carrie Lam out of her One Pacific Place office, this would be an ideal and very much cheaper alternative venue for the reclamation museum. I can’t imagine how they could fill 2874sqft with models and posters of the new development. And at $5.67 a year, they could pay for 123 years of rent, rather than the $700m they are planning to spend.
Given the ever-growing abundance of empty shops in HK, why does every single development project for anywhere (even the South Lantau eco area) still include a shopping mall or retail space? Do the planners ever look around them?
Yacht tourism is on the way, too, it says in the news today.
“Regarding concerns on the supporting infrastructure for yacht tourism, Linn confirmed that the Airport Authority is working on yacht facilities at the airport, with plans available next year.”
What genius thought up that one?
Re: Young Winston – those Russian oligarchs working on their offshore sanction evading activities need somewhere to park their superyachts. HK at what it does best.
HK Resorts was recently got approval to expand its Disco Bay marina, including accommodation for the crew. Presumably this to ensure onboard liaisons can be enjoyed discreetly.
https://www.thecfhk.org/post/hong-kong-s-key-role-in-sanctions-evasion-and-illicit-finance