Li Ka-shing builds bulletproof private compound in monastery
Staff Reporter 2013-08-14 14:05
The Tsz Shan Monastery.
Property tycoon Li Ka-shing has allegedly had a private safe house and meditation room built at the Tsz Shan Monastery, a Buddhist temple in Hong Kong that is under construction. Li's Cheung Kong Holdings has also been sued by the building contractors for HK$335 million (US$43 million) in outstanding payments, according to Duowei News, a media outlet operated by overseas Chinese.
Li donated over HK$1 billion (US$128 million) for the construction of the monastery, which includes the world's second tallest Buddhist statue. Li and his eldest son Victor established a private company to oversee the work.
The personal meditation center is an independent building tucked away in the northwestern corner of the 467,000-square-meter temple. Facing Tolo Harbour, it appears as two adjacent dormitories and has an area of roughly 2,000 square meters including a garden and a parking lot. It is enclosed by walls and electric fences which separate it from the rest of the monastery.
The building's doors and windows use bulletproof glass and an elevator links its two floors. Its ceilings, floors and walls are covered with 2cm-thick steel plates which can withstand explosions. One of three safe rooms was reportedly installed in the bathroom on the first floor.
The existence of the building, said to be Li's personal meditation room and intended as his ideal final resting place, came to light after the temple's constructor Chun Wo Building Construction became involved with a dispute with Li's company, according to the local South China Morning Post.
Li was very meticulous about the monastery's design and materials, and sources say he regularly had the construction progress observed by helicopter and reviewed details with his company's senior management team.
The firm requested a type of stone only available from Norway be used on the floors of three halls in the building. The management was not satisfied with the color of the stone, however, and told the contractor to remove all 1,400 blocks and reuse them. Around 60% of the stone could not be reused, however, meaning more had to be ordered from Norway, increasing costs dramatically. The new stone will not arrive in Hong Kong until September; one of the three halls remains unfinished as a result.
The tiles of the monastery were made by the Japanese company Maruei Ceramic Works. Cheung Kong Holdings reportedly intended to inscribe Li's signature onto the tiles but give up after the Japanese firm offered six samples and the firm concluded it would be impossible to accurately reproduce the signature in stone.
