IN a move seen as appeasing influential Central landlord Hongkong Land, a Central and Western District Board working group set up to investigate the company's call to re-open Chater Road to traffic on Sundays is considering a proposal to open a now closed section of Des Voeux Road.
The Transport Department has drawn up a proposal to open Des Voeux Road Central from Chater Road to the old Bank of China Building to give Hongkong Land's 360 Central tenants transport access on Sundays and public holidays, according to a working group member. Private transport is at present not allowed in the section.
The plan is now being reviewed by other government departments such as the police and will be presented to the working group's next sitting on April 23.
Attending the meeting will be representatives from a number of government departments, such as Labour, Immigration, Urban Services, as well as Transport and Police, and representatives from the Philippine Consulate, groups representing domestic helpers and Hongkong Land.
While Hongkong Land welcomed the plan to give its tenants easy access, it would still like to have Chater Road reopened, company spokesman Mr Martin Spurrier said.
''They [Hongkong Land] would like to have the road reopened, at the same time there has to be an alternative place found,'' he said.
But the chairman of the 13-member working group, Mr Yuen Bun-keung, said that reopening Chater Road was no longer an option. Instead the group was looking at ways to address the ''problems'' of littering, hawking and gambling.
