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Following is a question by the Hon Albert Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 19):
Question:
Some residents of Kwai Tsing District have told me that there is an acute demand for recreational and sports facilities in the district, which has a population of nearly 500 000 at present. According to available information, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department took over the project to construct a sports centre in Area 4 of Tsing Yi (Chung Mei Road Sports Centre) in 2000 and secured support from the Kwai Tsing District Council in 2006. In 2008, the District Facilities Management Committee under the Kwai Tsing District Council passed a motion to provide an additional indoor heated swimming pool in the Chung Mei Road Sports Centre under planning. The Architectural Services Department finished drawing up the plan of the Sports Centre in April 2012. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the respective monthly usage rates of various public swimming pools and sports centres in Tsing Yi, Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan since 2008;
(b) of the latest statistics on the public open space per capita in Kwai Tsing District; and
(c) whether the authorities will submit, in the 2012-2013 legislative session, the funding proposal of the project to construct the Chung Mei Road Sports Centre to the Finance Committee (FC) of this Council for scrutiny and approval; if so, of the estimated cost for and expected commencement and completion dates of the project; if not, the reasons for that, and when the funding proposal will be submitted to FC, as well as the estimated cost for and expected commencement and completion dates of the project by that time; if the construction of the Chung Mei Road Sports Centre cannot be completed within a short period of time, how the authorities will address the acute demand of the residents in the district for recreational and sports facilities?
Reply:
President,
(a) The monthly admission figures for public swimming pools and the monthly usage rates of sports centres in Kwai Tsing (including Tsing Yi and Kwai Chung) and Tsuen Wan Districts from January 2008 to November 2012 are at Annex I and Annex II respectively.
(b) Kwai Tsing District has a population of about 510,000. According to the Planning Department's Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG), the district should have about 102 hectares of public open space. At present, Kwai Tsing District has about 135 hectares of public open space (comprising about 70 hectares provided by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and about 65 hectares by the Housing Department). The provision is in line with that recommended in the HKPSG.
(c) The Administration plans to make a submission to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council within the 2012-13 session for the funding of the "Sports centre in Area 4, Tsing Yi" ("Chung Mei Road Sports Centre") project.
We are still preparing the cost estimate for construction of the project. The Administration will provide information about the project, including the estimated construction cost, when the funding application is submitted to the Finance Committee. If funding approval is obtained within the current session, we expect construction work to start in late 2013 for completion in early 2017.
Ends/Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Issued at HKT 17:19
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