Hong Kong lawmakers question need for HK$700 million gallery on prime site to showcase projects

Hong Kong lawmakers have questioned a government proposal to build a HK$700 million (US$90 million) exhibition hall at a prime site to showcase major development projects including the Northern Metropolis.

They also urged the government on Tuesday to lower the cost of the first-stage development of the San Tin Technopole, a hub near the border with mainland China, after authorities revealed they would apply for HK$30 billion in funding from the legislature.

At the centre of the controversy was a government plan to spend around HK$600 million to HK$700 million on setting up a gallery on the Wan Chai North waterfront to showcase major projects, such as the Northern Metropolis and a major reclamation project off Lantau Island.

The funding for the gallery was included in the government’s HK$30 billion planned financial application for the first-stage development of the technopole.

Lawmaker Lo Wai-kwok, chairman of the Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong, questioned whether the government was fully utilising the prime site by building the gallery there.

“The site of the gallery is very valuable,” he told a meeting of the Legislative Council’s development panel. “There are also not enough details available for discussion regarding construction of the gallery.”