Hong Kong airport to consider site designs

HONG KONG The Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has called for design tenders for the controversial exhibition centre at Hong Kong International Airport. Airport Authority Hong Kong, which is responsible for the operation and management of the airport, with the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has jointly invited interested parties to participate in a public-private joint venture for the financing, design, construction and operation of the facility. Under the joint venture, AAHK will provide land, and the government together with the selected developer will fund the development. "The International Exhibition Centre will be located at the airport's 57-hectare SkyCity, right next to the passenger terminal building," a AAHK statement said. "With a high-ceiling design, the centre is a ground-floor facility on a 17-hectare site, providing 100,000sqm exhibition space." Closing date for submissions is October 9. But sections of the Hong Kong exhibition industry maintain more research is required on the viability of a new convention centre. Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre managing director Mr Cliff Wallace has called for more investigation viability of the project. One respondent to CEI Asia Pacific's exhibition survey last month said: "New centres don't create new shows and new markets and organisers won't move shows to a new centre if there is no market for their show."