Concern group unveils alternative plan for over-budget Central Market in Hong Kong
As budget soars to HK$1.5b, cheaper renovation would see 200 stalls rented to small local shops
A concern group has urged the Urban Renewal Authority to go back to basics in revitalising the historic Central Market, putting forward a refurbishment plan that would reduce construction costs to just over HK$700 million.
The Central Market Concern Group unveiled its alternative plan yesterday after the authority warned the project might be scaled down amid a soaring budget to turn the 75-year-old Bauhaus structure by 2017 into a complex of art and culture venues with affordable eating places.
The URA now estimates that the project, announced in 2009 and dubbed the Urban Floating Oasis because of a planned glass structure on top of the market, will cost HK$1.5 billion instead of the original HK$500 million.
Prolonged talks with the Lands Department over the land premium, stringent Buildings Department rules as well as a judicial review challenging the height of the revamped market have held up the project.
The concern group said it would be in the public interest to simply refurbish the market as it was and rent out more than 200 stalls inside to small local shops rather than chain stores.
Culture critic Ada Wong Ying-kay, a co-convenor of the group, said their proposal would be much quicker in bringing the site - vacant since 2003 - back to life.