The government has been urged to be more flexible to attract tenants to wet markets after its auction of long-vacant stalls drew a cool response.
The call came from legislator Fred Li Wah-ming, who said he had told the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department before the auction that it should be more creative in its lease conditions.
Mr Li was speaking after the department leased only 306 stalls of 1,557 it had offered at reserve prices 60 to 80 per cent below the going rate.
'It is a very poor response, of course,' said Mr Li, chairman of the Legislative Council's food safety and environmental hygiene panel.
'There are so many restrictions that potential tenants' desire to rent these stalls is eliminated,' he said.
Tenants were scared off by a three-year lease requirement, which was too long, he said, and the requirement to sell a certain type of goods.