Outgoing Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário says that the government’s project to build a sports park, i.e., a park featuring various sporting facilities, on the plot of land where the former greyhound racetrack (Yat Yuen Canidrome) and its adjacent, currently in-use Lin Fong Sports Centre are located will be carried out in two phases, with the final construction plan for the project’s first phase now expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year at the earliest after which its construction tender can be launched in the subsequent quarter.
Rosário made the remarks when replying to oral interpellations by lawmakers during a plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle on Monday.
According to Rosário, the Lin Fong Sports Centre, including its indoor swimming pools and outdoor running track and football field, will remain open during the sports park project’s first phase, only after which the current sports centre will be demolished in the project’s second phase.
The government announced basic details of the sports park project in July last year, before the Public Works Bureau (DSOP), the public entity tasked with organising and overseeing public construction projects, announced the project’s further details on its website in May this year, according to which four sports pavilions will be constructed there, including one specifically for children, while a revamped running track and a football field will be built where the current ones are located.
According to the DSOP website, a one-floor underground public carpark will be built there, providing about 490 parking spaces for cars and motorcycles.
The Lin Fong Sports Centre, next to the now-defunct greyhound racetrack, comprises a pavilion and a running track plus a football field. The pavilion situated at the area’s southern tip includes various facilities such as swimming pools, table tennis tables, a gym, and areas used for various other sporting activities.
The DSOP website points out that the whole plot where the sports park will be built covers an area of 40,425 square metres.
During Monday’s plenary session, DSOP Director Lam Wai Hou noted that the government announced the sports park project’s concept plan in July last year, after which it carried out a study on how the project should be carried out.
Lam said that after the study, the government concluded that the project was expected to take several years as it will be a large-scale one, covering a total area of around 40,000 square metres. Consequently, Lam said, the government has decided to carry out the project in two phases with the aim of enabling the current Lin Fong Sports Centre to remain open to members of the public during a period of the construction process.
In the first phase, Lam said, the existing buildings and other construction structures which were used for now-defunct dog racing will be demolished, where three new pavilions will be constructed.
Lam said that only after the completion of the three pavilions, the second phase will be carried out, during which the current Lin Fong Sports Centre’s pavilion, as well as its running track and football pitch, will be demolished, after which a pavilion for children will be built on where the current pavilion is located, while a revamped running track and a football field will be built where the current ones are located.
Lam said that an underground carpark will be built in the second phase.
Lam said that the government is drawing up the final construction plan for the project’s first phase, which is now expected to be completed in the first half of next year when its construction tender will then be launched.
Rosário added that the final construction plan for the project’s first phase is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year at the earliest, after which its construction tender can be launched in the second quarter, the policy secretary said.
The government has not yet come up with the preliminary budget of its sports park project on the plot in Fai Chi Kei.
During the plenary session, Lei Wa Pao, an official of the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM), said that the new running track will have eight lanes, an increase from the five lanes on the current running track.
Rosário will retire from his post on December 20 when he will be succeeded by Raymond Tam Vai Man, according to an announcement by the State Council in Beijing on Saturday that listed the nine principal officials of the incoming government under Chief Executive-designate Sam Hou Fai, as well as new chief public prosecutor.
Both Rosário and Tam are engineers by profession.
This artist’s rendition released by the government last year shows the design of the future sports park in Fai Chi Kei.
