URA invites proposals for Western Market

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has requested 20 interested parties to submit detailed proposals for the management, maintenance and letting of the Western Market, a 96-year-old historic monument located in Sheung Wan, a URA spokesman said today (Tuesday).

The URA aims to use the Western Market as the anchor of a revitalisation plan to regenerate the Sheung Wan district into a more vibrant area of commercial and business activities.

These interested parties have responded to an invitation for Expression of Interest issued by the Authority earlier this year.

The exercise involves a gross floor area of approximately 30,000 square feet at the Western Market, excluding about 9,700 square feet of the first floor which has been tenanted to a number of cloth traders.

The spokesman said that the submission should consist of two parts: a technical proposal and a fee proposal. Each will account for 50% in the URA's selection of the winning submission.

"In the technical proposal, the content should include a theme for the building and how the premises would be put to use, business plan, the company profile, and the proposed upgrading works to the surrounding areas and the implementation programme.

"For the fee proposal, it should include the proposed amounts of fixed rent and revenue sharing payable to the Authority," he explained.

The factors which the URA would take into consideration when evaluating the submissions include how the Western Market would be used to help revitalise the immediate surrounding area, the proposed financial rewards for the URA, the technical proposal, the financial strength of the interested parties and their relevant experiences.

Submissions from the interested parties should reach the URA's headquarters on or before noon of 27 January 2003.

An assessment panel of the URA will evaluate the submissions received and select the successful bid before the end of March 2003.