As insults fly in Legislative Council, the Hong Kong sports community's "wish for a new facility continues to be frustrated by those who brand it a white elephant," according to Alvin Sallay of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. As the government defends the plan, the minutes of a meeting of
the public works subcommittee illustrate "the depth
of opposition to the plans in some quarters." Lawmakers branded each other "lackeys" and "scumbags" as they fought over plans to approve HK$62.7M ($8M) to "enable pre-construction work to begin." The sports community has been "calling for years for the Kai Tak
facility to be built." The plans include a 50,000-seater multi-purpose
main stadium with retractable roof, an ancillary sports ground with
seating for at least 5,000, an indoor stadium with a main arena with
4,000 seats and a secondary arena with 400 seats. But "the longer delays go on, the more chance opponents will get their
way." Angry scenes at that Legco meeting "underline the fight the government has on its hands." Among the questions raised were "transport issues, if the facility
would be underused, how many sports events would be able to draw a full
house, why build it in the heart of the city, and why is the government
leaning toward a design-build-operate formula." Among the charges against the project is that it will be "little used -- Hong Kong Stadium was only used on 19 days for sports events" in '14. But the government insists that "restrictions posed by noise pollution is the main reason for that, and the retractable roof on the new stadium would solve that problem" (SCMP, 6/10).
