Hong Kong Premier League side Kitchee's HK$84M ($10.8M) training center -- that is only a year old -- "must move to make way for housing development" after CEO Leung Chun-ying said that a new site "would be found for the football club," according to Chan Kin-wa of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. Leung said that the government "would find a new site before asking Kitchee to move out." Leung stressed that the government “attached great importance” to the Kitchee Centre’s contributions to the promotion of football and the overall development of sport in Hong Kong, but the "government had to weigh these problems with other issues such as the shortage of land and housing." He said, "Public housing tenants and applicants must queue up for flats, rents are expensive and property prices are high." The 15,000 square-meter training center located near Shek Mun MTR station in Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, "has two 11-a-side pitches, a gym, office and changing rooms." Work on a second phase involving a two-story administration building "is under way." Kitchee Owner Ken Ng Kin said that he "remained confident" that the club could continue its business beyond '17. He said, "The government has the right to take over the property at the end of the lease, but we don’t think this is in the best interest of community development and the development of sport in Hong Kong as well. The piece of land is designated for recreational use since we first conceived the idea of the project." He added, "There may be other land parcels in Hong Kong, often measured in hundreds of hectares that can help solve the city’s mounting housing issue but the future of Hong Kong soccer will undoubtedly suffer a huge setback without the center that occupies a mere 1.5 hectares" (SCMP, 10/3).
