Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium to officially open on March 1, gov’t says
Hong Kong Free Press
The main stadium of Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park will officially open on March 1, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau has announced.
In a social media post shared on Tuesday evening, the bureau said the 50,000-seat stadium would become the “top venue choice” for international sporting events and large-scale cultural and entertainment activities.
The venue has “ultra-high efficiency soundproofing” that ensures nearby residential districts will not be affected, authorities said. The stadium also features a retractable roof that will allow it to operate amid poor weather, they added.
“As the largest sports infrastructure project in Hong Kong’s history, the Kai Tak Sports Park is not only a significant milestone for the engineering sector, but also a crucial step in establishing Hong Kong as a hub for international sporting events!” the bureau wrote on Facebook.
Since last October, Kai Tak Sports Park has held a series of test events. On Tuesday night, 50,000 people, including civil servants, took part in a test football match at the stadium.
The trial event included a fire drill that involved 2,000 people, as well as a response exercise for attempts to throw water bottles and rush onto the field.
“The goal of these exercises was to test the communication and coordination abilities among all stakeholders and staff, as well as their capability to handle unexpected incidents,” Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rossana Law told the press on Tuesday.
Waste reduction
On Monday, environmental group Greenpeace Hong Kong urged the government to allocate HK$10 million to establish a reusable cup system at the sports park to reduce waste during major events.
The appeal came after the NGO released the results of a survey on the use of disposable utensils during the Lunar New Year Cup, which was conducted last Saturday.
Greenpeace Hong Kong estimated that more than 12,000 disposable utensils and containers were distributed during a football match that attracted around 20,000 spectators.
Disposable cups and lids accounted for 72 per cent of the utensils used, Greenpeace said.
“The team projected that the Kai Tak Stadium, assuming it hosts at least 40 sports events per year with 100 per cent occupancy for each event, could generate around 1.21 million disposable utensils annually,” the NGO wrote in Chinese on Instagram.
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