Theatrical black hole with no bottom in sight

The West Kowloon Cultural District is a big idea that has turned into an absolute disaster.

Its chairman Henry Tang Ying-yen may be hoping that, by proposing a renewed funding plan, the authority can instantly toss the fiscal hot potato to Culture, Sports and Tourism Secretary Kevin Yeung Yun-hung - who is probably the busiest minister of late.

It is no laughing matter to declare the ball is now in Yeung's court - a court that is already riddled with issues of all kinds.

The West Kowloon cultural project has had its share of woes.

Ever since the big idea was proposed and accepted by the government in the 1990s to develop the West Kowloon strip into a major cultural hub, funding has been a constant headache to overcome.

When former administrative officer Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee was transferred to the authority as its chief executive officer in 2021, she inherited from her predecessors a multitude of funding deficits.

A grand idea has gone terribly wrong.

On the drawing board, everything seemed feasible.

If the MTR Corporation has been successful in tapping property development on top of railway stations to fund its railway operations, then the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority could have also been successful with a model making use of commercial and residential developments within the district to subsidize cultural and artistic facilities.

It was conceded on the very first day that cultural facilities could not sustain themselves on ticket sales alone.

There have to be additional revenue sources, otherwise hotels, office space and residential apartments would not be counted towards the project.

Its hoped-for success was based on the assumption of a booming economy. To be fair to those proposing the idea, few - if any - could have anticipated the Covid pandemic and the downturns in property and other economic sectors.

When even the renowned MTRC has found itself struggling to tender sites marked for property development, the uncertainty facing the West Kowloon Cultural District project can only be imagined.

In view of the systematic way that its top officials are laying bare the woes, the authority clearly has put itself into crisis mode.

CEO Fung raised the alarm in a recent media interview, declaring there was "only bone but no flesh" as a result of successive cost-cutting exercises she had undertaken since 2021.

Dramatically, Tang yesterday said it has now become "a river of blood."

What can be done to stem the bleeding? Tang did not say, but he was categorical that he would not ask the government for extra funding.

Fung's predecessors may be blamed for not building hotels and office towers before museums and theaters. Had they done so, the situation may have been better.

The bad news is that, given the lukewarm property sentiment, property development will unlikely generate income for the authority anytime soon.

Is it planning to raise debts by issuing bonds?

If so, it must prove an ability to generate capital to repay the debts unless the government acts as its guarantor -otherwise, who would be willing to subscribe the bonds?

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po will find his next budget much more difficult to write.