The Link has been urged to install more lifts or escalators in its shopping malls after a political party's survey found six of them had neither facility and many others only had escalators that went in one direction.
'In some of them, shoppers need to carry heavy bags down stairs. It might be dangerous when the floor is slippery on rainy days,' said a spokesman for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, which did the survey.
The DAB checked the suitability for use by elderly shoppers of The Link Management's 102 shopping centres on public housing estates. Formerly government-owned, they were sold to The Link Real Estate Investment Trust in 2005.
Three malls in Tuen Mun - the Sam Shing, Siu Hei and Tai Hing commercial centres - Wong Tai Sin's Wang Fai and Tung Tau Estate shopping centres and the Chun Shek centre in Sha Tin had neither lifts nor escalators, the DAB found.
Of those with escalators, 15 per cent ran them either up or down but not in both directions. The party also found that a fifth of the shopping centres had no toilets for wheelchair users and a third did not have non-slip flooring at entrances.
'Many of the shopping centres we visited are close to public housing estates where a lot of elderly people are living. Unfortunately, the shortage of necessary facilities will cause them much inconvenience,' the party's spokesman said. He urged the property management company to take the needs of the elderly into account and improve the shopping environment.
