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Anita Lam

Western District residents will enjoy luxury swimming facilities for an admission fee of HK$19 when Kennedy Town's new pool opens next spring.  
The outdoor swimming pool overlooking the harbour will be relatively shallow in depth, at 1.4 metres,  the MTR Corporation said, so even the most inept swimmers can feel safe enjoying a dip.  
MTR Corp project liaison manager Tang Pak-hung said the new pool - which replaces  an old public swimming pool in Smithfield Road that would be demolished to make way for the West Island Line - was perfect for the elderly and  families. 
'Western District has a high ratio of elderly people and in gauging the community's opinions, we found that they wanted a pool for families and the community,' Mr Tang said.
'So we decreased the depth of the pool and built two jacuzzis for the elderly. The community can enjoy swimming facilities like those in the Four Seasons Hotel, with an admission fee of just HK$19.'
Athletes and professional swimmers who favour deeper water can  use two new pools in the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun that will be open by 2011. 
That triangular-shaped swimming pool complex - with a membrane roof made from the same type of  material that covers the outside of Beijing's innovative 'Water Cube' - will be operated by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. Work on the first phase will be completed by the end of next year and the facilities will  open  in April 2011.
The second phase - which will contain a multi-purpose indoor swimming pool, a training pool and a jacuzzi - will be ready for opening  by 2015. Mr Tang said that site would be used for   temporary storage of construction debris from the West Island Line project, expected to be completed by 2013 or 2014. 
Swimmers in the outdoor pool would not be breathing in air contaminated by smoke or dust from that site, he said, as the MTR Corp would take every measure to  guard against this. 
Construction work would begin next month at the earliest. 
MTR Corp senior design management architect Abdul Rahim said the material being used to build the pool was highly transparent, which would maximise natural lighting.



Swimmers will be charged just HK$19 when luxury pool opens in Kennedy Town