Fears realised as Kitchee soccer training centre in Sha Tin makes way for housing development
The government will find a new site to relocate the club’s HK$84 million facility, which opened just last year, to address pressing shortage of homes
Kitchee’s HK$84 million training centre – that is only a year old – must move to make way for housing development after Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said last night that a new site would be found for the football club.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Lui Che Woo Prize awards ceremony at the Convention and Exhibition Centre last night, Leung said the government would find a new site before asking Kitchee to move out.
Leung stressed that the government “attached great importance” to the Kitchee Centre’s contributions to the promotion of football and the overall development of sport in Hong Kong, but the government had to weigh these problems with other issues such as the shortage of land and housing.
“Public housing tenants and applicants must queue up for flats, rents are expensive and property prices are high,” he said.
The 15,000 square-metre training centre located near Shek Mun MTR station in Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, has two 11-a-side pitches, a gym, office and changing rooms. Work on a second phase involving a two-storey administration building is under way.
Leung added: “The public housing [development] will take place in phases. If we do rezone this land, the first phase will not involve the land Kitchee Centre is leasing on a short-term basis. But before relocation, we will not be taking back the land.”
