Reclamation ruled out for tourism hub in Hong Kong’s Kowloon East

No reclamation will be undertaken under a plan to develop a tourism hub at the Kai Tak site, the government has announced after reviewing a winning design for the plan and considering harbour protection legislation.

The latest thoughts about the plan were spelled out by the Development Bureau’s Energising Kowloon East Office today as it launched a 10-week open invitation for developers to submit expressions of interest for the project.

The 5.93-hectate “tourism node” at the tip of the former Kai Tak airport runway will provide a total gross floor area of 230,000 square metres to house what the government calls “edutainment” facilities, hotels, shops and offices. It is close to the Kai Tak cruise terminal.

A winning design chosen in a competition last year would form the basis for the ultimate plan but it would not be followed in its entirety, said office head Brenda Au Kit-ying.

“No reclamation will be involved. Under the winning design, reclamation would be done at the Kwun Tong promenade. But we will only take the design as a reference and won’t follow through the components not allowed by the [harbour protection] law,” she said.

Project proponents will be required to meet the criteria of building an area that promotes “a healthy life”. In particular, green areas must make up 30 per cent of the total area and there must be environmentally-friendly transport facilities such as parking places for bicycles.