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Hong Kong’s West Kowloon arts hub gets green light to sell land parcels to boost income
- Premier arts hub given 10-year window for select lands and is expected to also use period to devise viable self-financing model
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The authority behind Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District has received the green light to sell some of the arts hub’s land parcels over a 10-year period to help it stay afloat, with the body also expected to use the time to devise a viable self-financing model.
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Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said on Wednesday that the Executive Council had approved changes to the district’s financing model. The hub had previously relied on the building, operating and transfer of some commercial projects at the site but had struggled to attract interest among developers, partly because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yeung said the change meant the residential development in the district’s second zone would no longer be subjected to the build-operate-transfer model.
“The sale of the land will help the arts hub meet its financial obligations for a period of 10 years, but the authority will have to work out a viable, long-term commercial model,” he said.
Henry Tang Ying-yen, board chairman for the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, thanked the government for granting the body support without resorting to using taxpayers’ money.
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“The decision to ease the restrictions on selling the land will meet our goal of not adding to the government’s financial burden,” he said.
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