Complex proposed for Victoria Park
PLANS for building a leisure complex with a central library and a council chamber in Victoria Park have been proposed by Urban Councillor Mr Joseph Chan Yuek-sut.
The plan, which envisaged slicing off a corner of the Victoria Park to accommodate the new chamber and a modern central library for Hongkong Island, is likely to spark heated debate among councillors.
Mr Chan, who chairs the Libraries Select Committee, said he had yet to come up with concrete details, but papers would be put before the committee in March.
He said the new library should occupy 16,000 square metres of the total net floor area and the City Hall facility would remain a district library.
''As far as I know, the Government has no plans to redevelop City Hall. With the plan shelved, I think we should explore the Victoria Park [option], because it is big and the island population is moving eastwards,'' Mr Chan said.
The park is administered by the Urban Council.
But Capital Works Select Committee chairman Mr Samuel Wong Ping-wai said he saw no need for a new central library and a new council chamber.
''The present chamber is adequate, and the library will do fine after three floors in the High Block of the City Hall are cleared for the library expansion programme,'' he said.
Finance Select Committee chairman Mr Brook Bernacchi also expressed reservations about Mr Chan's proposal, saying it was ''impracticable to build it straight away''.
Mr Bernacchi also said Victoria Park was not that big, and a building inside it might affect the enjoyment of the public.
