West Kowloon

This article is about the geographical area of Hong Kong. For the geographical constituencies, see Kowloon West (constituency). For the express railway terminus, see Hong Kong West Kowloon railway station.

West Kowloon
Traditional Chinese	西九龍
Simplified Chinese	西九龙
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xī Jiǔ​lóng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping sai1 gau2 lung4

The Union Square development.

High-rise residential blocks near Olympic Station

Hong Kong West Kowloon railway station, the terminus of Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link

The Long Beach Public open spaces

West Kowloon (Chinese: 西九龍) is the western part of Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong, situated within the Yau Tsim Mong District and Sham Shui Po District. It is bounded by Canton Road to the east, Victoria Harbour to the west and the south, and Jordan Road to the north. Further to the north, the area extends to Tai Kok Tsui to the west of the West Kowloon Highway. Nam Cheong, Olympic, Austin and Kowloon stations are within the area.

West Kowloon Reclamation

It is principally a stretch of reclaimed land, which was subsequently developed in the late 20th century. It has been zoned for mixed commercial, residential and leisure development, and was almost doubled in size with a large reclamation scheme as part of the Airport Core Programme.

Structures

Existing

The Western Harbour Crossing connects West Kowloon to Hong Kong Island

• West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade
• West Kowloon Corridor - a bypass connecting Lai Chi Kok Road with the Gascoigne Road Flyover in Yau Ma Tei
• Western Harbour Crossing - Hong Kong's third harbour crossing, the Kowloon portal of which is located within West Kowloon
• Kowloon station, Austin station, Olympic station and Nam Cheong station of MTR
• Hong Kong West Kowloon railway station - Hong Kong's high speed rail terminal connecting to mainland China.
• International Commerce Centre - the current tallest building in Hong Kong

Under construction

• West Kowloon Cultural District - leisure and cultural district
• Central Kowloon Route Yau Ma Tei interchange

Projects

Existing

Commercial projects include International Commerce Centre, a 484-metre (1,588 ft) skyscraper which is part of the Union Square project.

Residential projects which have been realised in the sector include The Waterfront (2000), Sorrento (2003), The Harbourside (2003), and The Arch (2005), and The Cullinan (2008, the tallest residential building in Hong Kong). The above all sit atop Kowloon MTR station, a station on the Tung Chung line and Airport Express line. The shopping-mall Elements started operating on 1 October 2007.

Plots auctioned

In August 2005, two neighbouring sites near Central Park and Park Avenue were triggered for auction, and were subsequently acquired by a joint venture of Sino Land, Chinese Estates Holdings and Nan Fung Development.^[1]

In May 2007, a site bounded by Hoi Wang Road, Yan Cheung Road and Yau Cheung Road was won by a consortium comprising Sino Land, Chinese Estates Holdings, K Wah International and Nan Fung Development, for a bid of HK$4 billion.^[2] Following the successful auction of the site, some legislators called for a law to stop developers from constructing tall buildings which maximise good views at the expense of air flow in densely populated areas, but the bid failed.^[3]

References

1. Raymond Wang and Danny Chung, West Kowloon braces for battle, The Standard, 4 May 2007
2. Raymond Wang and Danny Chung, Low-end $4b win, The Standard, 9 May 2007
3. Olga Wong, "Call for law against 'wall effect' fails", South China Morning Post, 10 May 2007

22°18′13″N 114°09′36″E