26 November, 2009
The Board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (the Authority) held its seventh meeting today (26 November 2009). The Board was briefed by representatives from Transport and Housing Bureau, Highways Department and Mass Transit Railway Corporation Limited (MTRCL) on the design of the West Kowloon Terminus of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), and heard the work progress of its various committees.
The Chairman of the Board, Mr Henry Tang said, ‘The Board considered that the location of the XRL West Kowloon Terminus next to the WKCD could provide the WKCD with good transport infrastructure, facilitate visitors travelling between the WKCD and the Pearl River Delta and increase people flow in the WKCD. It helps to connect the WKCD with the Pearl River Delta, and to make WKCD a cultural gateway to the region.'
At today's meeting, Board members have expressed views on the design and construction arrangements for the XRL West Kowloon Terminus.
Mr Henry Tang said, ‘MTRCL and the relevant government departments will liaise closely with the Authority, so that these two important infrastructure projects can dovetail each other.'
The discussions on this item have been uploaded to the WKCD Authority's website www.wkcda.hk .
During the meeting the Board also received a briefing from the relevant government department on the road and pedestrian connections to the WKCD, and heard the progress reports of its committees.
Mr Henry Tang said, ‘The Authority noted that Transport Department had consulted the local community on the arrangements for pedestrian and road linkages in the West Kowloon area, and had briefed the Development Committee of the Authority on these issues. The Board is of the view that convenient transport to and from the WKCD is crucial to its success. The WKCD should not be an isolated island. It should have a good transport network for people and vehicular flow. The Board is happy to offer its views when the Transport Department conducts more in-depth transport plan studies in future.'
As to the Public Engagement (PE) exercise, the Project Consultant, the three Conceptual Plan Consultants and the Analysis and Reporting Consultant of the Authority have attended all the forums and focus group meetings and listened to the views of the public and stakeholders on the planning of the WKCD as a whole as well as the facilities of the arts and cultural venues directly.
The Board noted that the Authority had so far organised a forum dedicated to students, two public forums and 34 focus group meetings. The attendance at the meetings has been encouraging. The participants actively took part in the discussions, and gave views on the planning and development of the WKCD as a whole as well as the requirements for the various arts and cultural venues from both the users' and audiences' perspectives.
Mr Henry Tang said, ‘The Authority supports maintaining a high degree of transparency throughout the PE exercise. All forums and focus group meetings are audio-recorded and the recordings are uploaded to the Authority's website. In addition, the transcripts of the forums and focus group meetings are uploaded to the website by batches. The full report of the Analysis and Reporting Consultant will be made public after the end of the consultation.'
Mr. Henry Tang thanks all who have participated actively in the PE exercise.
On human resources, the Authority is pressing ahead with the recruitment of the CEO and various executive directors, and is currently conducting shortlisting and arranging selection interviews. The Authority will complete the recruitment of CEO first, and let the CEO participate in the final selection of the candidates for some of the executive director posts.
With a view to establishing a connection between the WKCD and the community as well as nurturing and building audiences, the Performing Arts Committee and Museum Committee have established sub-groups which are tasked to discuss the organisation of performing arts programmes, and explore possible researches related to the establishment of the Museum, including the possibility of collaboration with other organisations.
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