Disruption at Stanley to be 'minimal'
Architectural officials yesterday pledged to minimise nuisance to bars and restaurants caused by beautification work on Stanley's Main Street.
The pledge was made after councillor Chan Lee Pui-ying said at a Southern District Council meeting yesterday that the project could cost each restaurant owner a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars a month - because of the need to suspend their business.
But the Architectural Services Department yesterday said the only disruption would be to outdoor seating, which would be interrupted between November next year and July 2007.
The work is part of the phased $87.5 million tourism initiative called the Stanley Waterfront Improvement Project.
Tony Mui Tung-king, a landscape architect with the Architectural Services Department, said the impact of the work would be kept to a minimum.
'Only one or two restaurants will be affected by the project at any one time during the beautification project, to the extent that each will have their outdoor seating removed for no longer than one month,' Mr Mui said.
Yvonne Fitzsimmons Nelson, chairwoman of the Stanley Restaurants Association, and a group known as Enhancement of Stanley as a Tourist Area, said the measures were acceptable as only 'a little inconvenience' would be caused.
The sea view from the restaurants has already been blocked with hoardings put up last November for the work on the boardwalk. The hoardings would remain until October next year, Mr Mui said.
