More public consultation on Hong Kong's Avenue of Stars to come after backlash over developer's plan

Two fresh rounds of public engagement exercises on how the Avenue of Stars should be revitalised will be held from this month until June next year following a backlash against a developer's plan for the attraction.

But the purpose of the exercises is not to collect views on whether there should be an open tender to decide who would be the best operator for the avenue, a government department said.

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which will organise the exercise with New World Development, the avenue's operator since 2004, said the aim was to find out how revitalisation could be done better.

The film-themed attraction has been a source of huge controversy since New World revealed plans to expand and overhaul it, in return for which its right to run the site would be extended for 20 years. The Town Planning Board last month approved the plan, submitted jointly by a New World subsidiary and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, despite an outcry over the move to entrust public land to a private developer without an open tender

"The government does not have plans to change the mode of partnership at the moment," Dr Louis Ng Chi-wa, the department's deputy director, saidyesterday. He said the arrangement was not only "reasonable" but also "serves public interests".

The new plan would see the 440-metre avenue extended eastward by some 500 metres, with the addition of new shops and places to eat.