Tsim Sha Tsui harbourfront could close for three years as developer looks to revitalise promenade beyond 2024
A proposal before the Town Planning Board could allow New World to run a development plan for the Avenue of Stars well beyond 2024
A plan to build more shops and attractions on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront could mean an extension of New World Development's management role on the Avenue of Stars to 2035, the learned yesterday.
Under a revitalisation plan pending approval by the Town Planning Board at a meeting today, the avenue will be extended eastward and the developer will build more facilities along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, including an eatery hub, a film industry exhibition centre and a performance venue.
Works would shut public access to the waterfront for up to three years.
The avenue was built in 2004 at a cost of HK$40 million paid by New World, under an agreement with the government that granted the developer 20 years of operating rights and maintenance responsibility. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department remains the managing authority of the site.
While the existing contract is due to expire in 2024, the developer set up an organisation called Sustainable Foundation Company to take over the avenue's management on a non-profit basis should the revitalisation plan be endorsed.
New World is seeking to sign a new contract with the government so that the organisation will manage the avenue for another 20 years from signing the contract. If signed this year, the organisation would run the facilities until 2035.
Minutes of a Yau Tsim Mong District Council committee meeting in November showed councillor Kwan Sau-ling, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, asked whether New World and the government would sign a new contract with a longer period "to achieve fiscal balance".
Her DAB colleague, Chan Siu-tong, who chaired the committee, concluded that some councillors asked both sides to study the feasibility of extending the contract period.
But Kwan said yesterday that her suggestion was aimed at giving more time for new trees to grow. "They [the developer] pledged to plant more trees on the promenade … I think the government should give them two more years," she said.
Paul Zimmerman, co-founder of Designing Hong Kong, said improvement works were needed on the promenade but the arrangement should allow the operator's performance to be scrutinised.
"From the operator's point of view, it's reasonable for it to ask for a longer period because they are to invest in it. But from the public's point of view we should negotiate," he said. "If the government grants two-year contracts, it can refuse to renew the contract if the operator manages the place poorly, or it may even have the Harbourfront Authority take over management."
Kowloon Shangri-La hotel is among the businesses that submitted a statement opposing the plan. The hotel is part of the Kerry Group, the controlling shareholder of SCMP Group, which publishes this newspaper.
