Exclusive | Hong Kong’s Covid facility to be reinvented as youth creativity base in policy address move
Source says city leader to also target synergy between new Kai Tak venue and Hong Kong Stadium, which is being reviewed over its future use
An idle Covid-19 isolation facility located on prime Hong Kong land in Kai Tak will be turned into a cultural and creative hub for young people amid public calls for more space to help future generations realise their dreams, the Post has learned.
A source said on Monday the coming opening of a major 50,000-seat venue nearby would also prompt Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to find ways to promote synergy with Hong Kong Stadium in Causeway Bay and boost the development of sports-related industries.
Details of the plans for the isolation centre, occupying 11.5 hectares (28.4 acres) of the old airport runway in Kai Tak, would be announced in the city leader’s policy blueprint on Wednesday, the insider said.
The cost of maintaining the facility, at about HK$400,000 a month, has sparked questions over how it can be put to better use.
Some have said its use should align with a 2011 planning vision to turn Kai Tak into the city’s second central business district with the rest of East Kowloon.
But the insider said the site would become a space for young people.
