West Kowloon Cultural District bosses look to commercial developments to pay for arts facilities

The authority running the West Kowloon arts hub is considering how to bring forward money-spinning aspects of the massive project to help offset the spiralling cost of the development.

Giving more urgency to commercial aspects of the scheme was the “only realistic option available” to keep the project on an even keel financially after cost-cutting options were exhausted, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority said in a paper to lawmakers published last night.

While theatres, museums and galleries form the basis of the cultural district plan, the blueprint for the project also includes hotels, offices and homes with a total gross floor area of no more than 366,620 square metres. In its paper to the Legislative Council panel scrutinising the development, the authority suggested it would be in a better position to fund cultural facilities if parts of the commercial development were in place.

“Preliminary studies indicate that if [the authority] were given the development right with payment of land premium in respect of some or all of those commercial developments, there would be potential for the authority to complete the planned construction programmes in full, fund the operation of the [core arts and cultural facilities] and support the wider development of arts and culture in Hong Kong,” the document read.

The authority, a statutory body, is chaired by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Last year, the authority said commercial areas of the site could be put up for sale by next year. But delays to the high-speed railway to Guangzhou, which has its terminus adjacent to the arts hub, have cast further uncertainty over the long-delayed project.