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Hawkers say proposed Tin Shui Wai market needs careful planning

Hawkers in Tin Shui Wai say the government's market proposal needs to be carefully planned with them to ensure it puts locals' interests first

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Tin Shui Wai doesn't need a tourist trap that mirrors popular hawker areas across the city, but a market that caters to local needs, community members say.

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They were speaking after the government proposed on Saturday to establish a flea market in the troubled new town that it said would provide business opportunities and cheaper basic goods for poor residents.

"We don't want a cookie-cutter market. We want a market with unique local colour," hawker Liu Chiu-sum said.

The Home Affairs Bureau said yesterday that the market "will not target mainland tourists".

But local groups worry that the market, to be run by the non-profit Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, will not benefit the community if not planned properly and say the government should involve locals in the planning.

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"In general, we welcome the idea, but it needs to be planned right - together with the community," said Athena Wong Wing-chi, a social worker with the Community Development Alliance.

The proposed market will offer 200 stalls at low rents on a 38,000 sq ft plot of land.

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