More public consultation on Hong Kong's Avenue of Stars to come after backlash over developer's plan
But officials and developer only want to hear ideas for attraction … not calls for open tender
Two fresh rounds of public engagement exercises on how the Avenue of Stars should be revitalised will be held from this month until June next year following a backlash against a developer's plan for the attraction.
But the purpose of the exercises is not to collect views on whether there should be an open tender to decide who would be the best operator for the avenue, a government department said.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which will organise the exercise with New World Development, the avenue's operator since 2004, said the aim was to find out how revitalisation could be done better.
The film-themed attraction has been a source of huge controversy since New World revealed plans to expand and overhaul it, in return for which its right to run the site would be extended for 20 years. The Town Planning Board last month approved the plan, submitted jointly by a New World subsidiary and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, despite an outcry over the move to entrust public land to a private developer without an open tender
"The government does not have plans to change the mode of partnership at the moment," Dr Louis Ng Chi-wa, the department's deputy director, saidyesterday. He said the arrangement was not only "reasonable" but also "serves public interests".
The new plan would see the 440-metre avenue extended eastward by some 500 metres, with the addition of new shops and places to eat.
Ng said the developer had conducted more than 20 consultation sessions with various stakeholders over the past two years to collect their views on the revitalisation project. He added that the developer revised the project after their input.
The new public engagement overtures will be launched in two phases. The first will run from this month to November, during which exhibitions will be held and visitors asked to complete questionnaires on the revitalisation design. Focus group meetings will also be held.
In the second phase, from January to June next year, an advisory committee of experts and art, film and tourism industry representatives, will be set up.
Paul Zimmerman, a member of the government's Harbourfront Commission, said the developer should not be involved in public engagement because of "conflicts of interests".
He also said there should be a public tender to decide who ran the avenue and that any developer's term should be no longer than two years.
A New World spokesman said: "We are committed to working with [the department] to take this project forward, and the engagement efforts will provide more information on public aspirations … to finalise the design."
