West Kowloon Cultural District

The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) is a major cultural and artistic infrastructure by the HKSAR Government. The prospect of the Project is to establish a comprehensive cultural district that is equipped with world-class facilities, talents, landmark buildings and top-notch programmes, in order to attract tourists from both home and abroad to bring about creative economy and make Hong Kong an international city in Asia. WKCD has become a major cultural project since the 1998 Policy Address. A Concept Plan Competition was organized in 1999 to invite conceptual proposals for the development of a prominent waterfront area in West Kowloon into an integrated arts, cultural and entertainment district. In 2003, the Government issued the Invitation for Proposal to invite development proposals from the private sector; however, it was subsequently turned into a series of discussion and controversy. In 2004, the Government selected three proposals among the submission, and organized consultation activity and exhibition later the year. In 2005, the Government was criticized for the idea of constructing a gigantic canopy and adopting single tendering method. Planning and discussion on the WKCD Project was resumed in 2006. A gigantic museum called Museum Plus (M+) was planned to establish. In 2007, the government disclosed the consulting documents of the development WKCD to the public.