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RECREATION AND THE ARTS
by the council include stadia and sports grounds, swimming pools, beaches, indoor games halls, tennis and squash courts.
Urban Council recreation projects completed in 1988 include an extension to the Carpenter Road Park in Kowloon City with a BMX cycling track, the provision of a mini-soccer pitch, a basketball court and a children's playground above a service reservoir in North Point, Eastern District, and nine smaller projects to provide much needed active and passive recreational facilities for their respective localities.
More indoor recreational facilities have also been made available by the addition of two squash courts and the East Kai Tak Indoor Games Hall in Wong Tai Sin, the completion in the same district of an indoor games hall and a purpose-built badminton centre at Choi Hung Road Playground which also includes open air tennis and games areas, and the completion of three other indoor games halls within Urban Council market complexes at Quarry Bay in Eastern, Sheung Wan in Western and Fa Yuen Street in Mong Kok.
These three bring to 11 the number of multi-storey Urban Council complexes. The complexes optimise the use of scarce land resources by including floors devoted to recreational and cultural uses, such as indoor games halls, libraries, auditoria for the performing arts. Another four complexes, two in Eastern District and one each in Western and Yau Tsim Districts, are under construction.
Work on the major redevelopment of Kowloon Park, which is funded by the Jockey Club, progressed on schedule. On completion in 1989, the facilities there will include an Olympic-standard swimming pool, an outdoor leisure pool, a sculpture walk and extensive gardens.
Work also began on the Hong Kong Park at the old Victoria Barracks site in Central. This project, partially funded by the Jockey Club, will include extensive gardens, a greenhouse, an aviary, a sculpture and ceramic centre and an indoor games hall. A holiday centre at the Lei Yue Mun Barracks site in Eastern saw the first year of operation, and planning for the long term development of this site is now underway.
A new cultural centre at the Sheung Wan Complex in Western was completed, providing the base for several local performing companies.
The second and third phases of construction of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui have progressed smoothly and are expected to be completed in 1989.
The second phase comprises a large concert hall, a large theatre and a studio theatre as well as an arts library, a restaurant and an administration block, and the third phase a museum of art containing extensive galleries. To harmonise with these new buildings, work began on recladding the Space Museum, which formed the first phase of the Cultural Centre completed in 1980.
Construction of the superstructure of the Museum of Science and Technology in Tsim Sha Tsui East began in August 1988. The first phase of the development will comprise a four- storey museum containing purpose-built interactive exhibits, a large central piazza and a landscaped garden linked with the surrounding area by an above-ground walkway system. With a budget of $5.5 million, the Urban Council, through its Sports Promotion Office, provided financial support to sports and recreation events jointly presented with govern- ing bodies of sports and other organisations. The 3 800 matches and training sessions. promoted in the year included urban and territory-wide competitions such as leagues and championships, grassroots training courses, sports promotion schemes, spectator events and special projects such as schools sports, the annual Festival of Sport, and sports activities for the disabled and elderly. Some 265 000 people took part in these activities, which attracted many spectators.
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