The government expects the new Mong Ha sports pavilion to be open to the public by the end of the year.
The project was started by the government a number of years ago to convert the original single-storey sports pavilion into a five-storey complex.
Sports Bureau (ID) officials made the remarks yesterday during a meeting with members of the Northern District Community Service Consultative Council.
Briefing reporters after yesterday’s closed-door meeting, a deputy convenor of the government-appointed council, Kou Ngon Fong, quoted the Sports Bureau officials as saying that the ongoing project of the new Mong Ha sports pavilion, along with the second phase of the Mong Ha social housing estate project, is now expected to be completed in June this year.
In 2011, the government demolished the original Mong Ha public housing estate and its adjacent sports pavilion and started the construction of a high-rise social rental housing estate – the second phase of the estate, as well as a new sports pavilion. The first phase was completed in 2010.
The second-phase was originally slated to be completed in 2014. However, construction was temporarily suspended due to a legal row between the government and the original contractor, before it was restarted a few years ago.
The Infrastructure Development Office (GDI) said last year that the second phase of the Mong Ha social housing estate project – including the new sports pavilion – was expected to be completed in June 2021, a change from the originally expected schedule in January this year. It blamed the delay on the COVID-19 pandemic and a minor change in the project’s construction plan.
Kou quoted the Sports Bureau officials as saying yesterday that the new sports pavilion will have various sports facilities such as a five-a-side football pitch, a table tennis area, four volleyball courts, five basketball courts, five squash courts, and 14 badminton courts.
The five-storey building will have a gross area of 48,000 square metres, Kou said.
The Sports Bureau officials told the councillors that 70 percent of the facilities will be open for members of the public, while the other 30 percent will be designated for schools and community associations to rent, according to Kou.
This undated handout photo taken from the website of the Infrastructure Development Office (GDI) yesterday shows the almost completed Mong Ha sports pavilion in Areia Preta district.
