Cultural move: Visiting Wan Chai Methodist Centre, Chief Secretary Henry Tang says the bill on setting up the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority will be tabled at the Legislative Council in February.

The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority Bill will be gazetted tomorrow and tabled at the Legislative Council February 20 to form the cultural authority and develop an integrated arts and culture district.

The Government will seek a $21.6-billion one-off grant from LegCo in the second quarter to fund the core cultural facilities and the authority's initial expenses.

In a LegCo paper paper today, the Home Affairs Bureau proposed the board of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority be comprised of 20 members with at least five from the arts and culture sector and one from LegCo.

Appointed members

The board will have a chairman who may or may not be a public officer, a chief executive officer, 15 non-public officer members and three public officer members. Except the chief-executive-officer, the chairman and other members will be appointed by the Chief Executive.

As the board's line-up may vary to tie in with different stages of development and operation of the cultural district, the bureau suggested not to specify the precise composition of the board in the bill, nor to provide any mechanism for any members to be elected.

Visiting Wan Chai today Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang described the composition as a good mix of cultural and other members. He said a high-grade corporate governance system will be implemented as the authority will be subject to Ombudsman and Director of Audit monitoring.

Public scrutiny

Mr Tang said he is confident the authority will manage its finances prudently and exercise due care and diligence to ensure sustainability.

The authority chairman and the CEO will be required to attend LegCo meetings and answer questions from members. Members of the board and committees to be set up under the authority must declare interests while all these bodies will be subject to the bribery law.

For its proposed main functions the authority is tasked to prepare a development plan for the 40-hectare WKCD site and develop, operate, manage and maintain the facilities there. It should also promote, organise and sponsor the appreciation of and participation in arts and culture.

Tax exemption

The bureau proposed to grant the necessary land to the authority by the Director of Lands at nominal premium. The bill also suggested the authority be exempted from taxation and stamp duty to ease its tax burden.

The authority should consult the public on the development and operation of arts and cultural facilities, and submit corporate and business plans about its activities and projects to the Government.

The bureau will set up an ad-hoc office to co-ordinate the legislative work and preparation of the authority's formation.