# HONG KONG | 2019 Asian Games Bid



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Liberals make it three against Asiad funding*
The Standard
Thursday, January 13, 2011

The government's bid to host the 2023 Asian Games looks poised for defeat at the Legislative Council, with three leading parties set to oppose it.

The Liberal Party said yesterday its legislators will oppose the bid, standing with earlier naysayers the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, and the Democratic Party, which have stuck to their guns.

The government will seek funding of HK$6 billion from the Legco Finance Committee tomorrow, with the money needed to host the Games.

Liberal Party chief Miriam Lau Kin- yee said the official argument of long- term economic benefits is unconvincing. 

"With no concrete government commitments on the training and future development of elite athletes and on whether the basic infrastructure of the Olympic Village will be turned over to other public uses, our three lawmakers thus decided to oppose the bid," she said.

Lau was also skeptical over the costing. An Asian Games committee in November proposed an alternative option to bring down hosting costs to HK$6 billion, from original estimates of up to HK$14.5 billion.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kam Nai-wai said: "We doubt whether HK$6 billion is an accurate amount. Also, the government shows no interest in long- term development of sports facilities.

"With all these uncertainties and lack of public support, all our seven lawmakers will vote against."

DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung said the party's eight legislators will also vote against, adding: "Without public consensus, we won't agree."

The Civic Party's Tanya Chan Suk-chong said a survey shows more than 60 percent of the public are opposed, so she and her colleagues will vote no.

"If the government respects the people, it should not force the bid on Hong Kong, " Chan said.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Asian Games bid unlikely to survive LegCo vote Friday*
13 January 2011
China Daily - Hong Kong Edition

Lawmakers cite public opposition for voting down funding for Asian Games

The chance of the government's obtaining financial backing to make a bid to become the host city of the 2023 Asian Games appears doomed to fail, with more than half of the Legislative Council Finance Committee members saying they will veto the plan.

The government, hoping for a small miracle, is pressing forward with a last-ditch effort to win over several independent lawmakers and those who have not made clear their intention, said a government source.

The Finance Committee will examine the government's proposal for HK$6 billion to fund the games Friday.

From the government's point of view, sentiment in the Legislative Council is so one-sided - it appears hopeless.

At least 35 lawmakers have declared they would veto the funding, citing public objections as the major reason.

In December 2010, the Public Opinion Programme (POP) of the University of Hong Kong surveyed over 3,000 people. The poll found 57 percent of those surveyed opposed bidding for the games. Only 30 percent were in favor.

Between Jan 3 and Jan 11, the Civic Party surveyed 820 people, finding 62 percent opposed to the bid.

In a rare move, the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and the Liberal Party (LP) joined the pan-democratic camp to oppose making a bid to hold the games here.

The Finance Committee has 59 members. Opposing votes are expected to be cast by : 22 democrats (Emily Lau of the Democratic Party will not vote, in order to maintain impartiality as Finance Committee chairman), the DAB (eight votes, except Lau Kong-wah, who is an Executive Council member and must support the government) and three votes from the LP.

Accounting constituency lawmaker Paul Chan and Regina Ip of the New People's Party will oppose, while financial services constituency lawmaker Chim Pui-chung will abstain.

Originally, the government had hoped that some lawmakers from the two parties, who are also deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political and Consultative Conference (CPPCC), would attend a meeting in Shenzhen on that day in preparation for the NPC and CPPCC meetings in March. This might help the government sneak past with a narrow margin.

All of those members now have made it clear they will stay in Hong Kong and attend the Finance Committee meeting.

DAB Chairman Tam Yiu-chung Wednesday reiterated the position.

"All our lawmakers will stay in Hong Kong and vote against the bid (except Lau Kong-wah) in order to make no mistake," he told China Daily, saying the POP survey is similar to their own poll.

"Most citizens are against the bid because they do not think Hong Kong has the necessary sporting facilities to host the games, while promotion of sport is not equivalent to bidding for the games. Besides, the government's budget estimates for the games have been so inconsistent and these also dampened its credibility."

The LP, the government's original lobbying target, made clear its intention Wednesday.

Since the government cannot account for the economic benefits of holding the games and has not made firm pledges for development of elite athletes, the party has decided to vote against the bid, party chairman Miriam Lau said.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Sports culture call after defeat over Games bid*
The Standard
Monday, January 17, 2011

Legislators and athletes have called on the government to learn from its failed bid to host the 2023 Asian Games and to concentrate instead on building public support by developing a sports culture in the SAR.

On Friday, the Legislative Council's Finance Committee rejected a funding request for HK$6 billion to bid for the Games.

Speaking at yesterday's City Forum, Democratic Party lawmaker Kam Nai-wai said sports facilities in the SAR are inadequate and there is no support for retired athletes.

"Without a doubt the public did not support the decision to bid for the Asian Games. [They] also agree that sporting facilities in Hong Kong are inadequate," Kam said.

He called on the government to help athletes in their retirement.

"After devoting their youth to training, it should assist them when they retire by increasing the number of physical education classes in schools so they can be hired as teachers."

Hung Chung-yam, honorary adviser to the Hong Kong Elite Athletes Association, also urged the government to promote a sports culture and to strengthen games education in schools.

"The failure of the bid shows there is still plenty of room for the development of sports. To win public support the government needs to develop a sports culture and this can be done through schools," the former cycling champion said.

Hung added: "In Hong Kong, most students have just one physical education lesson a week. The government should consider increasing the frequency and length of lessons."

He also called on the business sector to devote more resources to promoting sports and organizing events.

Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan Suk-chong said the government should have a concrete plan on how to use the HK$7 billion it has proposed spending on sports over the next 12 years.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Well-run sports facilities for everyone should be priority *
21 January 2011
South China Morning Post

I welcome the decision by the Legislative Council's Finance Committee to oppose bidding for the 2023 Asian Games ("Game's over for HK$6b funding bid", January 15).

Athletes at the national level would have been happy to compete in front of a home crowd. Hosting the event would also have helped to boost the egos of a few individuals, including some government officials.

But for the overwhelming majority of residents, it would have brought little or no benefit.

Promoting sport is not about sending a few athletes to the podium to collect their medals. It is about allowing residents to improve their health and quality of life.

To encourage participation in sport, the government allowed residents to book and use public sports facilities for free during a period around the 2009 East Asian Games. But there were many no-shows, which I thought were due to the irresponsibility of users. Earlier this month, I found out this might not be the case.

I booked online a table tennis court run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Using the mediocre user interface, I put in the wrong date. I phoned the hotline and found I could not cancel my booking online to allow others to use the court. I would have to visit the venue and fill in a form. Even then, I would not get my money back. This inflexible procedure would explain the no-shows and underutilisation at public sports facilities.

This was not an isolated incident. I run at the Sham Shui Po sports ground every week. On the rare occasions when I can get a locker, I have to wait 15 minutes for it. Also, the water fountains there often do not work.

If the government is not managing its existing sports facilities well, imagine what would have happened if its priorities had shifted to organising for the 2023 Asian Games?

The government has limited resources. I want it to give priority to the poor and the working class instead of to the rich and the elite in our society.

Oliver Au, Cheung Sha Wan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*It was inevitable the defeat would be humiliating *
15 January 2011
South China Morning Post

It is déjà vu, only this time the defeat is more humiliating. A decade ago Hong Kong lost out to Doha in a bid to host the Asian Games. Yesterday the city saw nascent plans to host the 2023 Games snuffed out in its own backyard.

A lack of support from the public and lawmakers blocked the bid as effectively as any vote by the Olympic Council of Asia could have.

Bid backers blame the government for a lack of effort in pressing its case and legislators for putting their political interests ahead of the city's sporting development.

In the latter stages of a process which descended into farce, even a member of the 2023 Asian Games Provisional Bid Committee, which was set up to organise the bid, said he hoped the Legislative Council would vote it down.

"No one is helping [home affairs minister] Tsang Tak-sing in the bid. There's no collective effort among government officials to promote the plan," the member, who preferred to remain anonymous, said.

Cycling gold medallist Wong Kam-po, an outspoken supporter of the bid, said: "I can understand why political parties oppose it. They are very much concerned about next year's elections."

Despite the previous Doha experience, the second attempt to host the event appeared to have been prepared in haste and pursued amid confusion. Originally due to submit a letter of intent to the Olympic Council of Asia by March last year, the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China - responsible for Hong Kong's bid - found it was not ready to file the necessary papers at that time.

It got extra time after its president, Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, asked the Asian council, of which he is a vice-president, to postpone the deadline because Hong Kong needed more time to gauge community views.

The letter was submitted in June, with the Home Affairs Bureau's support, three months before the bureau conducted a public consultation exercise titled "Should Hong Kong bid to host the 2023 Asian Games?"

The cost was another stumbling block. People were spooked by an initial announcement that the project would cost HK$44.5 billion, including direct costs estimated at about HK$13.7 billion to HK$14.5 billion, then were left incredulous when the government slashed its estimate of the direct cost by half to HK$6 billion.

In January last year, lawmakers passed a non-binding motion urging it to "actively consider bidding to host the 18th Asian Games in 2019".

In fact it decided on 2023 but that did not prevent the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong from withdrawing its support, saying it did not think Hong Kong would be ready for the Games even by then.

Ip Kwok-him, the lawmaker who moved the motion and sits on the 2023 Asian Games Provisional Bid Committee, became an opponent.

A core member of the government-friendly DAB said central committee members were worried about the impact in the forthcoming district council elections.

Another member said its polls on the issue had never found more than 30 per cent support in the community - even when Hong Kong athletes came home victorious from the Asian Games in Guangzhou last year.

"With such strong opposition in the community, how can we support the bid?" the member asked.

A government-commissioned study by Chinese University presented a rosier picture than the DAB polls, finding that 46 per cent of 1,848 interviewed supported the plan.

As the campaign entered its late stage, in stepped the anonymous member of the 2023 Asian Games Provisional Bid Committee to deal a fatal blow. "I don't feel it is right for Hong Kong to host the Games now {hellip} it will be good for Legco to vote down the proposal" said the member, citing the changing budgets given by the authorities and lack of effort on publicity until the final days ahead of the finance committee's vote.

"Why were there no government advertisements on TV until the very last days?"

The member said a theme of "development of wellness of society" had been suggested at the first meetings of the committee, but the government did not adopt the recommendation initially and only used the concept in the later stages.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Tang's support rating slumps after remarks on 'radical' 20-somethings*
1 February 2011
South China Morning Post

Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen recorded his lowest approval rate since taking up the post in 2007, a Chinese University poll shows.

His approval rate stood at 49.4 points out of 100, a 2.7 point decline from the previous poll last month. Tang drew widespread criticism last month when he said the political activism of the so-called post-80s generation was too radical.

He said the post-80s generation should not be "obstinate and self-opinionated" and that those "marching courageously forward could easily face a tragic end".

The university poll said these remarks might be the reason for the drop in public approval of Tang.

The poll also found that the approval rates of other top officials had dropped, with Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen on 51.3 points, a 1.4 point slip.

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah and Secretary of Justice Wong Yan-lung recorded 52.4 and 56.3, a decline of 1.3 point and one point respectively.

The poll, conducted last week, involved 812 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.44 per cent.

Meanwhile, only 18.1 per cent of people polled said they were satisfied with the government's performance, a significant drop of 4.6 percentage points from the previous poll.

And 27.2 per cent said they were dissatisfied, an increase of 1.5 percentage points, while half of those surveyed said the government's performance was normal.

One in four said they trusted the central government and 27.6 per cent said they did not.

*The pollster said the rejection of entry applications by exiled June 4 activists wanting to attend the funeral of democracy stalwart Szeto Wah and the failure of the funding bid to host the 2023 Asian Games might have influenced the result.*

On the performance of political groups, the Democratic Party and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong remain the two with the most support, with the rate at 10.8 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively.

But only 1 per cent said they supported the League of Social Democrats, down from 2.3 per cent last month following the departure of founding members Wong Yuk-man and Albert Chan Wai-yip amid factional infighting.

The New People's Party, which only formed last month, was included in the poll for the first time, receiving 1.5 per cent support.

Almost two-thirds said they could not choose a party to support.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Sports billions on track despite Asia Games hiccup *
10 June 2011
SCMP

The government is forging ahead with a programme to spend HK$31.5 billion on sports facilities, despite the Legislative Council's refusal to support a bid for the 2023 Asian Games.

While the authorities had indicated that they would invest the money regardless of the bidding outcome, many thought this would be scaled down after Legco in January rejected, by an overwhelming majority, a motion to bid for the Games.

Instead, the government has embarked on its biggest investment to build and expand public sports facilities since Hong Kong's rapid urbanisation in the 1970s and 1980s.

Jonathan McKinley, Deputy Secretary for Home Affairs, the department that oversees sports funding, said that nearly HK$12 billion had so far been approved and that a further HK$20 billion was needed for future projects, including the Kai Tak sports hub - estimated to cost HK$17 billion.

"The HK$12 billion currently being spent on sports facilities shows we are walking the talk," he said in response to questions from the South China Morning Post. "Regardless of whether Legco gives us the go-ahead to bid for the Asian Games, we aim to have a range of venues that will meet the needs of a number of users, including sports associations."

There was an uproar in September when officials initially estimated the direct operating cost of hosting the Games at HK$14.5 billion, on top of HK$30 billion in indirect costs for new sports facilities. The forecast for operating costs was later slashed to HK$6 billion.

"Perhaps all the negative publicity about the Asian Games came about because the people didn't know what the government was doing. I think, sadly, it was a case of miscommunication," said Pang Chung, secretary general of Hong Kong's Olympic Committee. "The government was committed to building these facilities anyway. In this light, it is a shame we did not bid for the Asian Games."

While a large number of the 17 sports facilities currently being built at a cost of HK$10 billion will mainly cater for recreational use - the Siu Sai Wan complex and Tung Chung swimming pool have already been completed, each at a cost of more than HK$400 million - some could also double up and host major international competitions.

The biggest of these will be the Victoria Park swimming pool complex, which includes an Olympic-size pool, and will cost HK$1.197 billion, and the indoor cycling velodrome-cum-sports centre in Tseung Kwan O, costing HK$1.129 billion.

Liberal Party chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee, one of the biggest critics of the Asian Games bid, said they opposed it not because of the money that was going to be spent on facilities but because the government could not come up with a convincing answer about the event's impact on Hong Kong's economy.

"It was because we thought Hong Kong was not ready," she said.


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## prudence12 (Jul 15, 2011)

HongKong is too small... Is the event going to be held in Kowloon area?


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

prudence12 said:


> HongKong is too small... Is the event going to be held in Kowloon area?


Originally, a lot of the venues would be built on the Kai Tak site. But since the bid has been dropped, it appears the facilities promised will be built. So this thread will now change focus to track sports facilities construction projects.


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