OREANDA-NEWS. The Board of Directors of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) today announced that AA would proceed immediately with the development of a new hotel at the airport island’s North Commercial District (NCD) as the area’s first phase of commercial development.

The AA Board also said that the Board has unanimously agreed that there is no need to relocate the planned underground Automatic People Mover depot. The work to finalise a Master Layout Plan for the entire NCD development would continue, with a final recommendation to be submitted to the Board as soon as possible. As a result, the current Environmental Impact Assessment for Hong Kong International Airport’s (HKIA) three-runway system will proceed as planned and be ready for submission to the relevant authorities by early 2014.

The hotel will be located on approximately two hectares of land adjacent to AsiaWorld-Expo, an area that is currently used for long-term car parking. The hotel development is being planned to help meet Hong Kong’s growing need for more accommodation. Two levels of basement car park, which is expected to provide about 1,000 parking spaces, will also be built in that area.

Dr Marvin Cheung Kin-tung, Chairman of the AA, said, “I must thank my fellow Board members, colleagues and our consultants for the months of hard work they have spent working on a viable Master Layout Plan for commercial development at the NCD. We have been able to accomplish this while striking an important balance, by also ensuring that HKIA can continue at full speed in its planning for expansion into a three-runway system.

"Over the last few months, thorough deliberation among Board members has lent support to the idea that hotel and retail projects could be the mainstays of commercial development in the North Commercial District. While more work needs to be done to arrive at a final Master Layout Plan, we strongly believe that proceeding immediately with the hotel development will help Hong Kong better capture the commercial opportunities presented by the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, thereby contributing to the development of Lantau Island as a tourism and transportation hub," Dr Cheung added.

The final Master Layout Plan for the NCD will take into consideration all the planning parameters that are already in place under HKIA Master Plan 2030, including the planned underground depot. Project consultants have also been tasked with helping realise the full potential of the NCD for commercial development.