PROJECT PREVIEW: Kai Tak Stadium – Asia’s New Flagship Stadium
Our latest speaker addition to #TDS15 is Linda Law, Principal Assistant Secretary (Recreation & Sport), Home Affairs Bureau of Hong Kong.
Linda is one of the key project leaders behind the proposed, €2.3bn Multi-Purpose Sports Complex (MPSC) at the Kai Tak Development – Hong Kong’s urban development plan for the former Kai Tak Airport.
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
The MPSC is a key component of the Hong Kong Government’s strategy for developing sport in the country and includes a sports park for Hong Kong, with a mixture of high quality sports facilities for public use, open space, park features and retail and dining outlets, so that visitors can enjoy the park throughout the day, seven days a week.
The Hong Kong SAR Government will shoulder all the capital cost of the MPSC, as well as the core maintenance and life-cycle costs of the sports facilities.
The cost of the MPSC is understood to be about HK$22bn with target completion set for 2020-2021. The public works funded project is being implemented by the Home Affairs Bureau, using a Design Build Operate approach.
PRE-CONSTRUCTION FUNDS
In July, Hong Kong’s LegCo approved HK$62.7 million (€7m) in pre-construction funds for the project, which will be used for consultancy studies on technical and quantity surveying, ground investigation as well as topographic and tree surveys before the actual construction on the venues can go ahead.
South China Morning Post writes: “If everything goes according to the plan, construction can start in two years on a complex featuring a 50,000-seat main stadium with a retractable roof, a multi-purpose sports ground (5,000 seats) and an indoor multi-purpose centre (4,000 seats). All these venues will be built at the former Kai Tai airport site by 2021 at the latest.”
EXISTING LIMITATIONS
The current Hong Kong Stadium has a usage rate of about 30 days a year because there are many restrictions such as noise and public access, but the new facility is more viable.
“We desperately need a bigger stadium than the current one in So Kon Po, so we can be more confident in attracting real top-class overseas teams to Hong Kong,” said Hong Kong Football Association chairman Brian Leung Hung.”The cost of inviting teams has grown in recent years and if we can have a bigger venue, we can get more fans in so that the average ticket price can be lowered. This is very important.”
ADVISORS IN PLACE
Earlier this summer, the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) announced that the joint venture of KPMG and Advisian has been appointed as the operations consultant for the Kai Tak Multi-purpose Sports Complex (MPSC) project.
“The operations consultant will assist the HAB in the planning of this important project including the operational and business plans, the financial projection forecast and performance requirements. It will also assist us in engaging the stakeholders to ensure that their views are fully taken into account in the planning process,” a HAB spokesman said.
To hear the latest on this ambitious stadium development in Asia join Linda – and 60+ project delegation leaders – at TheStadiumBusiness Design & Development Summit 2015, this month in London.
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